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Friday, February 3, 2017
Visit the Smithsonian
The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is part of the Smithsonian
Institution, the world’s preeminent museum and research complex. The
Museum is dedicated to inspiring curiosity, discovery, and learning
about the natural world through its unparalleled research, collections,
exhibitions, and education outreach programs. Opened in 1910, the
green-domed museum on the National Mall was among the first Smithsonian
building constructed exclusively to house the national collections and
research facilities. Whether looking at the history and cultures of
Africa, describing our earliest Mammalian ancestor or primate diversity
around the world, examining ancient life forms including the ever
popular dinosaurs, or exploring the beauty of rare gemstones such as
uniquely colored diamonds, the Museum’s temporary and permanent
exhibitions serve to educate, enlighten and entertain millions of
visitors each year. The main building on the National Mall contains 1.5
million square feet of space overall and 325,000 square feet of
exhibition and public space; altogether the Museum is the size of 18
football fields, and houses over 1000 employees. With a growing network
of interactive websites, the Museum is transforming itself into a hub
for national and international electronic education, accessible to
anyone with access to the internet. At the center of the Museum’s
exhibition and research programs are its expertly documented
collections: more than 126 million natural science specimens and
cultural artifacts. Just to name a few of our museum holdings, the
collections include 30 million insects carefully pinned into tiny boxes;
4½ million plants pressed onto sheets of paper in the Museum’s
herbarium; 7 million fish in liquid-filled jars; and 2 million cultural
artifacts, including 400,000 photographs housed in the National
Anthropological Archives. Over 3½ million specimens are out on loan each
year; over 15,000 visitor days are spent in the collections; and there
are almost 600,000 additional visits to collection data bases available
on the Web. The Museum includes a state-of-the-art collections storage
facility in Suitland, Maryland; a marine science research facility in
Ft. Pierce, Florida; and field stations as far away as Belize, Alaska,
and Kenya. Research activities are organized into seven departments, and
a number of affiliated U.S. government agencies on-site contribute to
the Museum’s strength, including the Department of the Interior (U.S.
Geological Survey Biological Resources Division), the Department of
Agriculture (Systematic Entomology Laboratory), the Department of
Commerce (National Marine Fisheries Service Systematics Laboratory), and
the Department of Defense (Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit) Through its
research, collections, education and exhibition programs, NMNH serves
as one of the world’s great repositories of scientific and cultural
heritage as well as a source of tremendous pride for all Americans.
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