The Smithsonian Institution

In 1826, Scottish scientist James Smithson drew up his will, leaving the equivalent of half a million dollars to the United States “to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.” No one knows exactly why he did this — Smithson had never traveled to the U.S. and had no known correspondents here — but in 1846 Congress officially established Smithson’s institution, which has since grown to encompass 19 museums and galleries (many of which line the expanse of the National Mall) plus the National Zoo. Some of the names are familiar — the National Air and Space Museum and the National Museum of American History (see below) — while others don’t have quite as much name recognition.

Start your visit at the beginning, at the red sandstone building known as “The Castle.” Located on the south side of the National Mall, it was the Smithsonian’s original building and now functions as its visitor center. The Italian Renaissance–style building immediately west is the Freer Gallery of Art, which displays one of the world’s finest collections of Asian art — more than 24,000 pieces encompassing the Far and Near East. Besides Asian art, the Freer houses a collection of 19th- and early 20th-century American art, including the world’s largest gathering of works by James McNeill Whistler. The Freer is connected by an illuminated exhibition space with the underground Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, which continues its sister museum’s Asian theme. Next door (and also underground), the National Museum of African Art boasts a vast collection of both traditional and contemporary works from the entire continent.

Smithsonian Information Center: Tel 202-633-1000; www.si.edu/visit .
Freer & Sackler Galleries: Tel 202-633-4880; www.asia.si.edu.
National Museum of African Art: Tel 202-633-4600; www.nmafa.si.edu

The National Museum of American History, closed since September of 2006 and about to reopen in late November 2008 after a dazzling $85 million renovation, has long been one of the star venues in the Smithsonian gallaxy. The inventory housed within these hallowed walls of the Smithsonian is nothing less than mind-boggling: a selection of Groucho Marx’s home movies; the Star-Spangled Banner, the flag that inspired the national anthem; the first John Deere tractor; one of the original Howdy Doody puppets; more than 30,000 pieces of American clothing from the 1700s through today; the first Teddy bear; the Woolworth’s lunch counter from Greensboro, North Carolina, that was the site of the first civil rights sit-in; Mr. Rogers’ sweater; the Lone Ranger’s mask; a crumpled piece of the World Trade Center’s exterior sheathing; a group of Thomas Edison’s earliest lightbulbs; the oral histories of 200 Southern farmers; a 1989 Game Boy; George Washington’s surveying compass, camp chest, and tent; Superman comic books; Julia Child’s home kitchen; the nose cone of a pigeon-guided missile; a turn-of-the-century Washington, D.C., streetcar; Evel Knievel’s Harley; the ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz; 50,000 sound recordings dating back to 1903; a 280-ton steam locomotive; a 1926 Model T Ford; the first iron lung; life jackets from the Titanic; a collection of artificial limbs; the contents of an 1890s drugstore; an original model of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin; Albert Einstein’s pipe; a compass from the Lewis and Clark expedition; an original Jim Henson Kermit the Frog puppet; the bat Stan Musial used to collect his 3,000th hit; Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves; Duke Ellington’s sheet music; Custer’s buckskin jacket; a display of presidential hair called “Locks of Hair from Distinguished Heads”; and some 150,000 other items, representing only a fraction of the three million in the museum’s total collection. Wear comfortable shoes!

Where: 14th St. and Constitution Ave. NW. Tel 202-633-1000; www.americanhistory.si.edu.

For those in thrall with the notion of flight, the National Air and Space Museum is your place – and one of the most visited museums in America. Under one roof you’ll find Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, Chuck Yeager’s Glamorous Glennis Bell X-1, the Apollo 11 command module, the Skylab space station, and some moon rocks collected by Apollo 17.

Orville and Wilbur Wright made history’s first manned flight in 1903, but the Smithsonian’s aeronautical collection actually predates that by 17 years, beginning with its 1876 acquisition of a group of Chinese kites. Today the museum’s facility on the National Mall houses 62 aircraft, 49 space vehicles and large artifacts, and more than 2,000 smaller pieces, and is the most visited museum in the world and an unrivaled hit with kids. The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, a new sister facility in nearby Chantilly, Virginia displays another huge chunk of the full collection.

In addition to aircraft and spacecraft, displays include engines and instruments, armaments, flight suits, robotic exploration, and pop-culture space artifacts, including one of the USS Enterprise models used in the original Star Trek TV series. Displays are arranged thematically, with separate galleries covering early flight, aviation milestones, jet aviation, rocketry, the space race, lunar exploration, and other topics. One gallery explains the principles of flight through 50-plus hands-on activities, while a flight simulator allows visitors to test-pilot dozens of different aircraft, including some that
are in the museum’s collection. Regularly scheduled shows at the 220-seat Albert Einstein Planetarium simulate the heavens on a 70-foot overhead dome, and an IMAX theater shows films specially prepared for the museum on a screen five stories high and seven wide.

Where: Independence Ave between 4th and 7th Sts. Tel 202-633-1000; www.nasm.si.edu

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Patricia Schultz is the author of 1000 Places To See Before You Die (Workman) and 1000 Places to See in the USA & Canada Before You Die (Workman)