Our Shared Future: 250 Exhibitions

Much Here is Beautiful: Photography Surveys of the U.S. Bicentennial Added

~~Much Here is Beautiful: Photography Surveys of the U.S. Bicentennial~~ Removed

Much Here is Beautiful: Photography Surveys of the U.S. Bicentennial

From the California coast to the Kansas heartland to the streets of New York City, photographs provide an expansive and evocative portrait of America with a focus on the 1970s and early 1980s.

September 18, 2026 – April 17, 2027

American Art Museum

We Make History

We Make History explores how history happens, is preserved, and shared.

May 30, 2026 – TBD

Anacostia Community Museum

In Pursuit of Life, Liberty & Happiness

An immersive exhibition exploring the ideals of the Declaration of Independence.

May 14, 2026 – September 2026

American History Museum

Made In America: The Industrial Photography of Christopher Payne Added

~~Made In America: The Industrial Photography of Christopher Payne~~ Removed

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Made In America: The Industrial Photography of Christopher Payne

See more than 70 large-format photographs that celebrate the combination of human skill and mechanical precision that transform raw materials into objects.

December 12, 2025 – October 4, 2026

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

American Winners: Athletes and Entertainers Who Shaped the Nation Added

~~American Winners: Athletes and Entertainers Who Shaped the Nation~~ Removed

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American Winners: Athletes and Entertainers Who Shaped the Nation

This exhibition salutes a diverse array of athletes and entertainers by presenting more than ﬁfty works from the permanent collection.

September 26, 2025 – September 7, 2026

Portrait Gallery

State Fairs: Growing American Craft

The first exhibition dedicated to artists’ contributions to the great U.S. tradition of state fairs.

August 22, 2025 – September 7, 2026

Renwick Gallery

The Gunboat Philadelphia Preservation Project

Follow the preservation of the gunboat USS Philadelphia, an iconic reminder of the spirit of the American Revolution.

August 22, 2025 – Ongoing

American History Museum

Shifting Boundaries: Perspectives on American Landscapes

This exhibition explores the views of New England portrayed by American painters William Metcalf, Dwight Tryon, Winslow Homer, and Abbott Thayer and how they have evolved and been reshaped over time.

July 13, 2024 – July 26, 2026

Asian Art Museum, West Building

Galleries for Modern and Contemporary Art

The museum's permanent collection freshly examines the explosion of possibility in American art between the 1940s and today.

September 22, 2023 – Ongoing

American Art Museum

Entertainment Nation

Entertainment Nation examines how entertainment brings Americans together, shapes us, and provides a forum for important national conversations.

December 9, 2022 – Indefinitely

American History Museum

The Wright Brothers & the Invention of the Aerial Age

Explore who Wilbur and Orville Wright were, what they achieved and how they did it, and how the world reacted.

October 14, 2022 – Indefinitely

Air and Space Museum

Destination Moon

The gallery shows how an extraordinary combination of things made it possible for humans to walk on the Moon—and how we are going back.

October 14, 2022 – Indefinitely

Air and Space Museum

America's Listening

America's Listening tells the story of recorded sound and innovations that contributed to how we consume music and movies today.

October 19, 2018 – Indefinitely

American History Museum

Americans

American Indians represent less than 1 percent of the U.S. population, yet names and images of Indians are everywhere. Americans invites visitors to ask why.

January 18, 2018 – Indefinitely

American Indian Museum DC

America's Presidents

The nation’s only complete collection of presidential portraits outside the White House tells the American story through the individuals who have shaped it.

September 22, 2017 – Permanent

Portrait Gallery

Many Voices, One Nation

Explore the 500-year journey of how many distinct peoples and cultures shaped and negotiated the culture of the U.S.

June 28, 2017 – Permanent

American History Museum

American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith

Presents national treasures that represent American democracy—based on the bold American experiment to create a government “of the people, by the people and for the people.”

June 28, 2017 – Permanent

American History Museum

Slavery and Freedom

This exhibition explores the complex story of slavery and freedom, a story standing at the core of our national experience.

September 24, 2016 – Permanent

African American History and Culture Museum

A Changing America: 1968 and Beyond

This exhibition illustrates the impact of African Americans on life in the United States—social, economic, political, and cultural.

September 24, 2016 – Permanent

African American History and Culture Museum

American Enterprise

Learn how business and innovation helped the United States develop from a small dependent agricultural nation to one of the world's largest economies.

July 1, 2015 – Permanent

American History Museum

Nation to Nation: Treaties between the United States and American Indian Nations Added

~~Nation to Nation: Treaties between the United States and American Indian Nations~~ Removed

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Nation to Nation: Treaties between the United States and American Indian Nations

Learn about the treaties that lie at the heart of the relationship between Indian nations and the United States.

September 21, 2014 – January 17, 2028

American Indian Museum DC

Experience America

Through New Deal programs, the federal government paid artists to paint and sculpt and urged them to look to the nation’s land and people for subjects.

August 14, 2014 – Ongoing

American Art Museum

Food: Transforming the American Table

This mouth-watering exhibition explores the social changes that have changed how we eat and features Julia Child's kitchen.

November 20, 2012 – Indefinitely

American History Museum

American Trail is where Zoo visitors can learn about animals native to the U.S. and Canada, many of which have come back from the brink of extinction and are thriving thanks to conservation efforts.

September 1, 2012 – Permanent

National Zoo

The First Ladies

Learn how first ladies have shaped the role of first lady as the role of women in society evolved.

November 19, 2011 – Indefinitely

American History Museum

The Star-Spangled Banner: The Flag that Inspired the National Anthem Added

~~The Star-Spangled Banner: The Flag that Inspired the National Anthem~~ Removed

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The Star-Spangled Banner: The Flag that Inspired the National Anthem

The sight of those “broad stripes and bright stars” inspired Francis Scott Key to write a song that eventually became the United States national anthem.

November 21, 2008 – Permanent

American History Museum

The Price of Freedom: Americans at War

This exhibition surveys the history of America's military from the Colonial Era to the conflict in Iraq.

November 11, 2004 – Permanent

American History Museum

America on the Move

This exhibition examines how transportation—from 1876 to 1999—has shaped our American identity.

November 22, 2003 – Permanent

American History Museum

The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden

This exhibition explores the public, personal, ceremonial, and executive boundaries of the presidency.

November 15, 2000 – Permanent

American History Museum

Binding the Nation

This gallery provides an overview of mail service in America from colonial times through the 19th century.

July 30, 1993 – Permanent

Postal Museum