goSmithsonian - February 2009 - (Page 26) THE BASICS HOURS: 10 to 5:30; closed December 25 ADDRESS: 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW PHONE: 202.633.1000 (voice/tape) 202.633.5285 (TTY) WEB: americanhistory.si.edu goSmithsonian.com METRO: National Museum Of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center Long celebrated as a rich repository of the nation’s treasures, today the National Museum of American History is spectacularly redesigned after a two-year, $85 million renovation. Its daylight-filled center atrium promises to be a new public square, a gathering space for performance and entertainment, capturing the spirit and vitality of a Main Street, USA. The museum’s state-of-the-art Star-Spangled Banner gallery, showcasing the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the lyrics of the national anthem, is the centerpiece of the museum’s historic renovation. In the galleries and exhibition halls, visitors will find the top hat that President Lincoln wore the night he was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre, the portable desk that Thomas Jefferson used to write the Declaration of Independence and hundreds of other cherished items that together tell the nation’s story. M metro ® ● ● Smithsonian or Federal Triangle (ORANGE OR BLUE LINES) TIPS • Get your hands on history. Track down one of the museum’s daily cart displays and play around with everyday objects from the past, like a reproduction cotton gin. LANDMARK OBJECTS Six iconic artifacts point the way to themes and stories in American History. TRANSPORTATION AND TECHNOLOGY • Learn science by doing science in Spark!Lab on the first floor. Open daily 10 to 4. For all ages. Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Lab experiments, lasting about 25 minutes, are offered every half-hour from 10:30 to 3:30. The 1831 “John Bull,” one of the nation’s earliest steam locomotives SCIENCE AND INNOVATION • Make sure to stop and admire the new third-floor vista made possible by the museum’s recent renovation. • At the new Nina and Ivan Selin Welcome Center, located on the second floor near the National Mall entrance, visitors can pick up information about special tours and demonstrations and purchase tickets for Smithsonian’s IMAX®theaters. HUNGRY OR THIRSTY? The Stars and Stripes Café—set up as an American food court—offers a wide selection of salads, sandwiches and other foods and is located on the lower level west. For lighter fare and specialty hand-dipped ice cream, stop by the Constitution Café on the first floor by the entrance. There’s a cash machine on the lower level west, just outside the Stars and Stripes Café. The 1865 Vassar telescope used by America’s first woman scientist, Maria Mitchell AMERICAN IDEALS The Greensboro lunch counter of the civil rights era AMERICAN LIVES Horatio Greenough’s statue of George Washington. ENTERTAINMENT, SPORTS AND MUSIC WHAT’S NEW? THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER The flag that inspired the national anthem returns to the heart of the museum in a dramatic new display. A special environmentally controlled chamber in an atmosphere evoking the “dawn’s early light” protects the restored fragile wool and cotton flag. Enter from the center atrium on the second floor. THE ARTIFACT WALLS The new glass-fronted cases that line the firstand second-floor center corridors showcase hundreds of storied artifacts from the museum’s three-million-item collection. Currently on view: a 1975 Altair 8800 kit computer, a collection of mouse traps, the robot C-3PO from the Star W films, the oldest surviving John Deere plow and Dale Earnhart’s 1998 ars racing helmet. goSmithsonian.com Disney’s Dumbo the elephant ride car AMERICAN WARS AND POLITICS 26 RICHARD STRAUSS/SI Clara Barton’s ambulance http://americanhistory.si.edu http://www.goSmithsonian.com http://www.goSmithsonian.com
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