The Flickr Mallmuseum Image Generatr

The clean, modernist lines of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History stand in quiet contrast to the lively stories housed within. Located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., this museum preserves and presents the rich tapestry of American life—from the original Star-Spangled Banner to Dorothy’s ruby slippers, from presidential artifacts to pop culture icons.

This photo captures the museum’s north-facing facade, featuring polished marble panels and a recessed portico that stretches across its monumental elevation. Vertical banners flank the entrance, highlighting the museum’s vibrant rotating exhibitions. The tiered steps and dry fountain in the foreground are part of the museum’s adjacent plaza and amphitheater area, offering a place of reflection in the heart of the capital.

Designed by McKim, Mead & White associate Walker Cain and completed in 1964, the building originally opened as the Museum of History and Technology. Its stripped Classical style aligns with the postwar architectural sensibility seen in several Smithsonian institutions, emphasizing form and function while maintaining a dignified presence on the Mall. In 1980, it was renamed the National Museum of American History to better reflect its evolving mission.

Despite its austere exterior, the museum inside pulses with stories of innovation, struggle, creativity, and identity—making it one of the most visited museums in the United States. The inscription on the facade proudly reads: Kenneth E. Behring Center, recognizing a major donor whose contributions helped fund critical renovations in the early 2000s.

HABS Architectural Survey Standard:
Documented according to standards of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS):

Structure Name: National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

Location: 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, D.C.

Style: Stripped Classical / Modernist

Date of Construction: 1958–1964

Architect: Walker Cain (McKim, Mead & White successor firm)

HABS Reference Number: DC-857

NMAI Mall Museum, Exterior, Lily Pond, Ducks, Flowers. (Photo by Katherine Fogden, NMAI)

NMAI Mall Museum, Exterior, Lily Pond, Ducks, Flowers.
(Photo by Katherine Fogden, NMAI)

Spring Landscape, NMAI Mall Museum, Exterior, Lily Pond, Ducks, Flowers, East Entrance, South-West Exterior

I hope to show through the contrast of the original photo - where native American people are being watched over by U.S. soldiers - and the place of honor occupied by the NMAI on the national mall that our country has made great strides in the last century. How far can we progress in this century?

A composite image created with layering and illumination effects in PaintShop Pro.

The top layer consists of the artist's fingers shot with a Nikon D3100 DSLR camera using the built-in flash at ISO100.

The 2nd layer is an image from the National Archive and Records Administration library. It is from a collection entitled Photographs of the American West: 1861-1912: The Disinherited. It is the 73rd photo in the collection with a caption reading "Shoshone Indians at Ft. Washakie, Wyoming Indian reservation .. . Chief Washakie (at left) extends his right arm." Some of the Shoshones are dancing as the soldiers look on, 1892. 111-SC-8 7800." The full URL to the image location is www.archives.gov/research/american-west/images/073.jpg

The Background image is courtesy of R.A. Whiteside and The National Museum of the American Indian, blog.nmai.si.edu/main/2009/08/whats-your-favorite-part-of...

This monkey skeleton is a detail from one of the exhibits to be found at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History's featured attractions, Osteology: Hall of Bones. This exhibit displays a variety of vertebrate skeletons grouped by their evolutionary relationships.

In the museum's Osteology Hall, you can compare a human and gorilla, bone for bone, count the number of neck vertebrae in a human and a giraffe and observe skeletal features that are unique to reptiles or to fish.

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, National Mall, Washington, D.C.

"[The Hirshhorn is] the biggest piece of abstract art in town-a huge, hollowed cylinder raised on four massive piers, in absolute command of its walled compound on the Mall.... The circular fountain...is a grand concoction...that for good reason has become the museum's visual trademark." Benjamin Forgey, The Washington Post, November 4, 1989

Roy Lichtenstein sculpture at the front of the Hirshhorn Museum - Brushstroke, a 32-foot-high–by-20-foot-wide rendition of a dynamic giant brushstroke of paint.

At the entrance to the Air and Space Museum on The National Mall, the sculpture is called Ad Astra ("to the stars").