Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

On the Road

Learn about the history of city mail delivery vehicles from the first tests in 1899 to the present.

December 23, 2004 – July 13, 2007

Postal Museum

Transitions: Photographs by Robert Creamer

On view are some 30 of Robert Creamer's high-resolution images of plants and animals that show the effects of time.

October 26, 2006 – June 24, 2007

Natural History Museum

Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest Winners: 2007

See the winners in the 2007 Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest state competitions; the entries represent each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories.

April 27, 2007 – May 4, 2007

National Zoo

Nature's Best Photography Awards: 2004 & 2005

View 10 photographs from the Nature's Best International Photography Awards: the 2004 grand-prize winner and the 2005 grand-prize and category winners.

April 1, 2006 – March 13, 2007

Natural History Museum

Science in the News: Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

A presumably extinct bird, the ivory-billed woodpecker, Campephilus principalis, was reportedly rediscovered in 2004.

April 10, 2006 – January 31, 2007

Natural History Museum

Earth from Space

See precise, up-to-date images captured by high-tech satellites, used by geologists, meteorologists, and other scientists to study how the Earth changes from day to day and year to year.

November 11, 2006 – January 7, 2007

Air and Space Museum

Greenland Research: Rasmussen's Circumpolar Research

See objects from the museum's collection dealing with the fifth expedition Knud Rasmussen (1879-1933) took from Thule, in northern Greenland, to Alaska (1921-1924). Objects include snow goggles, handmade dolls by indigenous peoples, and miniature models of wooden sleds.

May 20, 2005 – December 14, 2006

Natural History Museum

Carmen Lucia Ruby

See the 23.1-carat Carmen Lucia ruby, one of the largest faceted Burmese rubies known to exist.

October 16, 2004 – November 20, 2006

Natural History Museum

Forces of Change: The Arctic: A Friend Acting Strangely

Explore the Arctic’s changing climate. Discover what these changes mean for the Arctic, its wildlife, its people—and the rest of the planet.

April 15, 2006 – November 12, 2006

Natural History Museum

Forces of Change: Atmosphere: Change is in the Air

This exhibition explains the important role the atmosphere plays in our lives and in the environment by examining its evolution and properties and its effects on plants, animals, and people.

April 15, 2006 – November 12, 2006

Natural History Museum

Vanished Kingdoms: The Wulsin Photographs of Tibet, China, & Mongolia 1921-1925

Janet Elliott Wulsin's photographs of the region's tribes, people, and landscapes; reproductions of hand-painted lantern slides; and excerpts from her personal letters.

May 22, 2006 – October 9, 2006

Natural History Museum

Australia/Asia Exhibit

Visit tree kangaroos, rat kangaroos, echidnas, and Prevost's squirrels, whose native habitat is Australia, New Zealand, and neighboring islands in the South Pacific.

May 1, 1984 – October 1, 2006

National Zoo

Information Age: People, Information and Technology

Beginning with Samuel Morse's invention of the telegraph in the 1830s, this exhibition of more than 700 artifacts explores how information technology has changed our lives -- as individuals and as a society -- over the past 150 years.

May 9, 1990 – September 4, 2006

American History Museum

Wondrous Cold: An Antarctic Journey

See 50 color and black-and-white photographs of the Antarctic landscape by award-winning photographer Joan Myers. Large panoramas of Antarctica's beauty and desolation are juxtaposed with scenes of wildlife, people, and abandoned historic huts of early explorers.

May 18, 2006 – September 4, 2006

Natural History Museum

Stanley: Robot Car

See an experimental robot named "Stanley," a modified Volkswagen Touareg that offers a glimpse into the future of "smart" cars.

July 1, 2006 – September 4, 2006

American History Museum

Agriculture Hall

Hand and horse-drawn tools to present-day mechanized equipment illustrate the changes in rural America since the 18th century.

January 23, 1964 – September 4, 2006

American History Museum

Whatever Happened to Polio?

The story of the polio epidemic in the United States, from vaccine development to current world efforts to stop polio.

April 12, 2005 – September 4, 2006

American History Museum

Generous Friends: Building an Art Collection for the National Air and Space Museum

Discover 72 artworks that provide a visual history of the people and events associated with the development of powered flight and space exploration.

October 8, 2004 – August 25, 2006

Air and Space Museum

Wildlife Photography Rotating Display

Visit a rotating display of wildlife photography by Zoo and FONZ Photo Club photographers.

April 9, 2005 – July 24, 2006

National Zoo

On Time

The changing ways Americans have measured, used and thought about time during the past 300 years is told through some 200 clocks, watches, and objects.

November 18, 1999 – July 9, 2006

American History Museum

Frost: Life and Culture of the Sami Reindeer People of Norway

View 39 photographs that document the lives of the Sami -- indigenous people living today in northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula in Russia.

October 19, 2005 – July 3, 2006

Natural History Museum

Engines of Change: American Industrial Revolution, 1790-1860

With more than 250 original artifacts, this major exhibition brings to life the American Industrial Revolution.

November 21, 1986 – June 12, 2006

American History Museum

The Spirit of Ancient Colombian Gold

On view are over 280 gold items dating between 500 B.C. and 1600 A.D. that reflect the diverse regional and cultural traditions of the indigenous people of the area that is now Colombia.

November 9, 2005 – April 9, 2006

Natural History Museum

Nature's Best Photography Awards

View photographs from the Nature's Best International Photography Awards over the years. The annual awards honor the best amateur and professional photographers from around the world.

November 23, 2005 – March 27, 2006

Natural History Museum

Cleaning Up America's Hazardous Waste: The Superfund Program

Over the past 25 years, the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund program has cleaned up 966 hazardous waste sites across the United States.

December 9, 2005 – January 29, 2006

Natural History Museum