America's Smithsonian: Celebrating 150 Years

Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. : Smithsonian Inst Pr, 1996. Folio, hardcover, VG in VG brown and black pictorial dj. 238 pp. Founded in 1846 with a bequest from Englishman James Smithson, the Smithsonian, with its complex of museums, archives, and research departments, holds in trust for the American people over 140 million artifacts. To celebrate its sesquicentennial, the largest museum exhibition to travel the United States-and the largest collection of national treasures exhibited outside the Smithsonian-has been carefully assembled for a 13-city tour. Hundreds of staff members and specialists have culled from this hoard some of the most distinctive works for exhibition. This tome, a companion to the tour, divides the offerings into sections that mark human exploration and discovery, human creativity and imagination, and a celebration of both momentous events and everyday lives. For those unable to visit the Smithsonian, this catalog, with its 342 color illustrations, offers the chance to savor the objects that embody our national experience.