The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History will open a signature exhibition, “American Stories,” on April 12, 2012.
“American Stories” presents a chronology of American history from European and Native cultural encounters of the early 1600s through the 2008 Presidential election. It tells stories through more than 100 objects, including Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers, a rarely displayed walking stick used by Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln’s gold pocket watch and Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves.
The exhibition is designed to serve as an introductory experience to American history and as a dedicated space to feature new acquisitions that illustrate the breadth of the American experience. Recent acquisitions on view include a Revolution-era sampler made by a 13-year-old girl, a creeping (crawling) baby doll (1870s) and a typewriter used by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti (about 1960).
“This exhibition tells us many of the stories we share as individuals, communities and as a nation,” said Marc Pachter, interim director of the museum. “Objects are witnesses to the past that lead you to stories that shape our American experience. This visually vibrant exhibition aims to delight as well as inform.”
All of the objects are from the museum’s vast collections except for two loans. Franklin’s three-piece plain-silk suit, worn at the Treaty of Alliance signing in 1778, will be on display only through May 7 and belongs to the Massachusetts Historical Association. The leather jacket Bob Dylan wore during his epic 1965 performance at the Newport Folk Festival is on loan from an anonymous collector.
This is the first general subject exhibition for which the museum has translated all the labels into Spanish. “American Stories” also features a bilingual website. The Spanish guide is available by request at the museum information desks, accessible via smart phone through a QR code at the exhibition entrance and online as a PDF at americanhistory.si.edu/historiasamericanas.
“‘American Stories’ highlights the ways in which objects and stories can reinforce and challenge our understanding of American history and help define our personal and national identities,” said Bill Yeingst, project director and chair of the Home and Community Life division. Exhibition Curator Bonnie Campbell Lilienfeld added that the exhibition examines the manner in which culture, politics, economics, science and technology have shaped life in the U.S. and how the peopling of America has contributed to the rich distinctiveness of a country influenced by diverse cultural communities.
The National Museum of American History collects, preserves and displays American heritage in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific and military history. To learn more about the museum, visit http://americanhistory.si.edu