National Museum of American History.

National Museum of American History. National Museum of American History, museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., dedicated to the collection, care, and study of objects that reflect the experience of the American people. The museum opened on the National Mall in 1964 as the Museum of History and Technology. It adopted its present name in 1980. The museum's building was one of the last designed by the well-known architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White. The mission of this popular museum is to inspire a broad understanding of the United States and its many peoples. Overall, the museum's collections document technology, industrial development, military history, transportation, textiles, costume, domestic life, sport, the arts, and community life. They range from the original flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star-Spangled Banner to Ford's 1913 Model T automobile and the ruby slippers that actress Judy Garland wore in the motion picture The Wizard of Oz. Visitors can see the lunch counter from Woolworth's department store in Greensboro, North Carolina, where in 1960 four black students held a sit-in that helped lead to the desegregation of lunch counters throughout the American South. Vanishing parts of American life are preserved in such items as an actual post office and country store from Headsville, West Virginia, with merchandise still on the shelves. Icons of popular culture on display at the museum include Kermit the Frog and other characters from the Muppets; clothing worn by Billie Jean King, Michael Jordan, and other athletes; and items from such television series as "M*A*S*H" and "All in the Family." Many of the collection's artifacts celebrate discovery and invention, including the compass William Clark used on his expedition to the American West with Meriwether Lewis. The collection also includes the original polio vaccine and syringe used by epidemiologist Jonas Salk, the first modern digital computer (the ENIAC), and the original telephones developed by Alexander Graham Bell. The transportation collection features vehicles such as the rare Tucker automobile from the 1950s and the oldest operable locomotive--the John Bull--built in 1841. Three floors of exhibitions explore American history from the end of the American Revolution (1775-1783) to the present. Highlights include "American Encounters," which examines the struggles, compromises, and reconciliation among Native American, Hispanic, and Anglo-American communities of northern New Mexico. Selections from the collection of inaugural ball gowns of wives of American presidents are shown in "First Ladies: Political Roles and Public Images." The exhibition "Field to Factory: Afro-American Migration 1915-1940" explores the movement of African Americans from the rural South to the urban industrial North. In the Hands On History Room and the Hands On Science Center, visitors can handle historical reproductions of artifacts and try to recreate scientific experiments. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.