National Museum of American History, Part 2

During my trip to Washington, DC back in July, my final stop was the National Museum of American History (NMAH). This series looks to be four parts long and will finish up this week. The first part covered “The Star-Spangled Banner”, “Within These Walls”, “Many Voices, One Nation”, “American Democracy”, a temporary exhibit about Latina reporters, and “Entertainment Nation”. This next part will include “The First Ladies”, “The American Presidency”, and “The Price of Freedom”, all located on the third floor.

A neoclassical style building with six columns holding up a carved pediment and large wings on either side of the central building A brutalist style concrete building with many steps leading to its back door. A massive, round, stained-glass window of a dog looking into a gramophone with the quote “His Master’s Voice” written below him

Outside “Entertainment Nation” was a massive, round, stained-glass window of a dog looking into a gramophone with the quote “His Master’s Voice” written below him. The advertisement must have been highly successful at the time, juxtaposing the spectacle of bright lights and pretty colors with the cuteness of a little dog. “The First Ladies” covered mostly china and dresses used by the first ladies during their time living at the White House. This room was packed with museum visitors who had just come from “Entertainment Nation”, and the lighting made some artifacts difficult to see. The same applied for some parts of “The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden”. Among the most admired objects in this part of the collection were the hat worn by Abraham Lincoln on the night of his assassination at Ford’s Theatre and a chair sat in by George Washington from his home at Mount Vernon (although it has since been reupholstered). My personal favorites were political cartoons about my favorite president, Calvin Coolidge.

A set of white dishes with a floral pattern. A set of fancy white dishes with a floral design. A brown stovepipe hat in a plexiglass case.
Political cartoon of four men in suits standing around a cash register, which one man plays like a piano. Above the men are the words, What a Friend We Have in Coolidge An assortment of black-and-white political cartoons featuring former president Calvin Coolidge A red upholstered chair in a plexiglass case.

While approaching “The Price of Freedom: Americans at War”, I saw a car that I recognized from twenty years ago. It was Stanley, a blue Volkswagen Touareg that autonomous drove to victory in a robot race organized by DARPA back in 2005. After that moment of nostalgia, I stepped further back in time to the American Revolutionary War, called “Independence” by the exhibit signage, where I was greeted by replicas of late Georgian style work class houses and statues of men belonging to the colonial militia. A bust of George Washington was naturally found in this section amid detailed signage about the war. I went fairly quickly through this section, as I had just visited the Museum of the American Revolution about a month earlier.

A blue Volkswagen Touareg covered in advertising with sensors on its roof. Statues of a pair of late 18th century soldiers standing near a video screen. Statue of a man wearing a late 18th century British Army uniform peeking out of an American colonial era house.

Select wars in American history received a section in the somewhat difficult to follow exhibit. I found a panel using Braille and a raised map explaining how Blind visitors might navigate the space; as a sighted person who visits many museums, I still became lost more than once. After “Independence”, I entered “Expansion”, which did a great job covering the pioneers and so-called “Indian Wars” with balanced perspectives. I doubled back for the section on the American Civil War and at one point mistakenly found myself in the hallway outside the exhibit. Nevertheless, I persisted, and went next to a small room on World War I. The most interesting artifact in this room was the taxidermized dog Stuffy, who I had learned about on the Smithsonian podcast Sidedoor in the Season 10 episode “Tails of Bravery”.

A white marble bust of George Washington. A mid 19th century cannon with a small opening for a small cannon ball A raised map with Braille text explaining how to navigate the counterintuitive exhibit paths.
Taxidermized pit bull with a spiked collar. Through a window is a neoclassical style long building with a bronze rotunda. Mannequin of a man wearing boxers and standing between two cots and in front of two small closets.

World War II and the Vietnam War took up the entire back section of the exhibit, with little about the Korean War. Life-sized dioramas showed the conditions of women working in factories building war materials such as aircraft, while men fought overseas and lived in tight quarters. The most interesting part of this section was a helicopter and homemade motorbike used in North Vietnam. A short documentary showed the reunion of a Vietnamese American woman with the medical and religious personnel who had rescued her as a baby after her parents were killed in the war. Ending this section were pieces from the Berlin Wall from 1989, part of the World Trade Center from 2001, and medals of valor granted by the Army, Air Force, and Navy/Marines.

Life-sized diorama of a woman working in an airplane factory and wearing early to mid 20th century work clothes. A man wears a mid-20th century American military uniform and stands in front of a Vietnam War era helicopter A homemade Vietnamese motorbike with mechanical parts attached to the frame of a regular bicycle.
Pieces of concrete behind plexiglass embedded in a concrete wall covered in graffiti. A burned metal beam propped against a wall covered with pictures of skyscrapers burning. A case containing three star-shaped medals of valor labeled as army, air force, and navy/marines.

This was the most sobering section of the museum and the most aligned to the way history is taught in grade schools. For families and classes who visit the museum with a focus on educational experiences, this is a must-visit. I wish these three exhibits had more “hidden stories” about the lives of everyday people, but I understood the need to balance the huge number of artifacts and grand timeline with providing a succinct and accessible experience. Overall, I was incredibly impressed by this area of the museum.

Location: 1300 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20560, USA