Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

The Presidency and the Cold War

During the second half of the 20th century, the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a global struggle. Beginning with Yalta and ending with the collapse of the Berlin Wall, this exhibition explores how U.S. presidents reacted to the events of the age.

July 1, 2006 – February 24, 2008

Portrait Gallery

Rocketry and Space Flight

Explore two key technologies that have made spaceflight possible: rockets and space suits.

July 1, 1976 – February 16, 2008

Air and Space Museum

Worthy of the Nation: Planning America's Capital

See photographs and illustrations that depict the challenges associated with planning Washington, D.C from the end of the bicentennial era to post-9/11, from the 2006 second edition Worthy of the Nation: The Planning of Washington, D.C., from L'Enfant to the National Capital Planning Commission .

October 10, 2007 – February 14, 2008

Ripley Center

Legacy: Spain and the United States in the Age of Independence, 1763-1848

Through approximately 70 portraits and compelling authentic documents, this exhibition explores Spain's key role in the Revolutionary War and the founding of the new nation.

September 27, 2007 – February 10, 2008

Portrait Gallery

Legendary Coins & Currency

See some of the National Museum of American History's National Numismatics Collection's (NNC) rarest holdings, including a 1913 Liberty Head nickel and the unique 1849 Double Eagle.

December 8, 2005 – February 10, 2008

Smithsonian Castle

The Lost World of James Smithson

View parts of James Smithson's book collection and some of his mineralogical notes that survived a fire that destroyed the top floor of the Smithsonian Castle building in 1865.

April 16, 2007 – February 6, 2008

Smithsonian Castle

Over the Top: American Posters from World War I

On view are 44 war bond posters from World War I, focusing on the four Liberty Loan campaigns, the War Savings Stamp program, the Victory Loan, and support for the American Red Cross.

October 26, 2007 – February 3, 2008

American Art Museum

Out of the Mails

Learn how Americans circumvented the official post during the Revolutionary War era.

December 14, 2006 – January 31, 2008

Postal Museum

Research Case: One Museum, Two Collections: Ethnobotany in the American Southwest and Mexico

See several cultural artifacts and botanical specimens acquired in the 19th century that helped to define the new field of ethnobotany, the study of the complex interconnections between humans and plants.

December 15, 2006 – January 29, 2008

Natural History Museum

Mexican Folk Art from the Collection of Fomento Cultural Banamex

View five cases featuring folk art made by a group of master artisans representing urban, rural, and indigenous communities across Mexico.

September 5, 2007 – January 27, 2008

Ripley Center

Provoking Magic: Lighting of Ingo Maurer

Visit a retrospective of the celebrated lighting designer Ingo Maurer that offers a comprehensive overview of his nearly four decades of work.

September 14, 2007 – January 27, 2008

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Mexican Treasures of the Smithsonian

Witness the full range of the Mexican presence in the Smithsonian's collections through art and artifacts that span several centuries.

September 5, 2007 – January 27, 2008

Ripley Center

Art of Being Tuareg: Sahara Nomads in a Modern World

View more than 200 decorative works that depict the culture and arts of the Tuareg people of Mali, Niger, and Algeria from the 19th century to the present.

October 10, 2007 – January 27, 2008

African Art Museum

Disaster: Response and Recovery

This exhibition reveals how the Postal Service responds to disasters -- natural or manmade -- that dramatically affect everyday life in an instant.

June 27, 2007 – January 25, 2008

Postal Museum

James McNeill Whistler

View 10 oil paintings that show the major developments in Whistler's style from the late 1850s until the 1890s.

April 22, 2001 – January 21, 2008

Asian Art Museum, West Building

Art for Art's Sake

Take in 31 works by Whistler, Tryon, Dewing, Thayer, and ceramicist Mary Chase Perry Stratton.

August 7, 1997 – January 21, 2008

Asian Art Museum, West Building

Temple of Invention: History of a National Landmark

To celebrate the historic Patent Office Building's anniversary, this exhibition tells its story from its construction to the 2000-2006 restoration.

July 1, 2006 – January 21, 2008

Portrait Gallery

Going West! Quilts and Community

Consider the essential role that quilts and quilt making played in the lives of women on the frontier and the extraordinary creativity of the individuals who made them in this display of more than 50 quilts.

October 5, 2007 – January 21, 2008

Renwick Gallery

Piranesi as Designer

Examine for the first time the complete works of Piranesi (1720-1778) as a designer of architecture, elaborate interiors, and exquisite furnishings and his far-reaching influence on noted architects and designers of yesterday and today.

September 14, 2007 – January 20, 2008

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Norval Morrisseau: Shaman Artist

This retrospective of Canada's renowned Native artist Norval Morrisseau (Anishnaabe) includes both early works painted on unusual surfaces through the artist's later large-scale canvases.

October 20, 2007 – January 20, 2008

American Indian Museum New York

Research Case: The Great Auk

Now extinct, the great auk (Pinguinus impennis), a flightless bird, once inhabited the shores of the North Atlantic by the millions.

August 24, 2007 – January 14, 2008

Natural History Museum

Tales of the Brush: Literary Masterpieces in Chinese Painting

See an exhibition featuring Chinese artists -- as early as the first century to the present day -- who have turned to literature for inspiration for their paintings, works on silk and paper, and other objects.

July 28, 2007 – January 13, 2008

Asian Art Museum, West Building

IDEO Selects: Works from the Permanent Collection

Explore the theme of "design thinking" -- an approach used to solve design problems over the past five centuries based on three categories: influence, intuition, and empathy.

June 22, 2007 – January 13, 2008

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Parades: Freer Ceramics Installed by Gwyn Hanssen Pigott

View 7 still-life groupings of bowls, bottles, and cups assembled by Australian ceramic artist Gwyn Hanssen Pigott.

November 4, 2006 – January 8, 2008

Asian Art Museum, West Building

Kindred Spirits: Asher B. Durand and the American Landscape

This retrospective of Asher B. Durand's work brings together 60 of the most beautiful and famous American landscape paintings of the 19th century.

September 14, 2007 – January 6, 2008

American Art Museum