NMAH Rethinks American History

The National Museum of American History has just announced that it will close to redesign many of its exhibit halls. How will the museum choose to re-invent itself?

The National Museum of American History (NMAH) has just announced that it will close for nearly two years to redesign many of its exhibit halls and build a new gallery for the Star-Spangled Banner, the Washington Post is reporting.

According to the Washington Post article, the main purpose of the redesign is to make the museum more chronological and give the audience a more cogent 'take home' message. This is an interesting move for the Smithsonian, since the recently opened National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) relies less on a chronological approach than a series of thematic approaches. This difference may be due in part to the background of those curating each institution; historians are mostly responsible for running the NMAH, whereas many of the curators of the NMAI possess a background in anthropology.

The Washington Post article quotes Gary Haney, a partner in the architectural firm managing the redesign of the NMAH as saying, "You will be able to identify the purpose of the museum as you walk through the door."

The pressures to deliver a more cogent, clear, and understandable message to museum visitors will no doubt prove to be a difficult challenge for the curators at the NMAH. Attempting to package a generalized and simplistic message about the history of the United States is a potentially dangerous move. Building a framework for the museum that a wide-variety of audiences can understand could possibly result in an overly simplistic history that would assuredly spark criticism from historians across the country. The curators at the NMAH will need to take great care in attempting to present the history of the United States with balance and attentiveness to some of the more difficult episodes in the history of America if they want to avoid such criticism.

Historians and museum professionals across the nation will be keeping a close eye on how this story develops.