Upcoming Events / Exhibitions

March 7, 2008 – Indefinite

The Interior Museum’s Platinum Anniversary: 70 Years of Interpreting History and Progress

On March 8, 2008 the Interior Museum will celebrate its 70th anniversary. The museum was the brainchild of Interior Secretary Harold Ickes, who believed that the Department of the Interior had an identity problem due in large part to its name. Ickes’s goal for the museum was to educate and present the story of the Department and help the American taxpayer understand the important work of his department. The museum opened on March 8, 1938 with eleven dioramas, twelve large wall maps, one hundred models and numerous paintings, transparencies, charts, and specimens in 95 exhibits. Since the inception of the museum, the bureaus have lent and donated objects to the museum for exhibitions and the collections to enhance the vital connections between the people, places, and events that are relevant to the department’s past, present, and future.

Jan. 18, 2008 through Aug. 8, 2008

Coral Reefs: Imperiled Habitats of the Sea

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of the Interior Museum will open the exhibit Coral Reefs: Imperiled Habitats of the Sea on Jan. 18, 2008. This exhibit, which includes stunning photographs of coral reefs in U.S. waters, is free and open to the public.

To bring the world’s the attention to these beautiful living habitats, 2008 is designated International Year of the Reef. Coral reefs are communities formed by millions of tiny coral animals over thousands of years. Although they provide habitat to one-third of all ocean species, almost two-thirds of all existing coral reefs are being destroyed or are threatened. The Department of the Interior, along with the Department of Commerce, co-chairs the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force that was established by Presidential Executive Order 13089 “to preserve and protect the biodiversity, health, heritage, and social and economic value of U.S. coral reef ecosystems and the marine environment” in the waters of the United States and internationally. more

November 9, 2007 – May 31, 2008

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial: America Responds

November 13, 2007 marks the Twenty-fifth anniversary of the ground breaking for construction of the Vietnam Wall. While controversy swirled around the monument in 1982, today over 3 million visitors a year come to pay their respects to those who gave their lives for their country in Vietnam. Each day offerings are left to the fallen and each day these personal and special objects are collected as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection and cared for by the National Park Service. The Interior Museum will be working with the National Park Service to commemorate this anniversary by illustrating the difficult process which was undertaken to create the memorial and by sharing many of the objects left by the public for the soldiers taken by the Vietnam War.

September 14, 2007 - Indefinite

The Bats and the Bees: Pollination Systems in America

Pollination occurs when pollen is moved within a flower or carried from flower to flower by birds, bees, bats, butterflies, moths, beetles or other animals, or by the wind. This transfer of pollen in and between flowers of the same species leads to fertilization, successful seed and fruit production for plants. The current declines in the health and population of pollinators pose a significant threat to the integrity of biodiversity, to global food webs, and to human health. To combat this threat, the Interior Museum, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service and all members of the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign are working to educate public, private and governmental organizations about the importance of understanding pollinator systems around the globe.

July 21, 2007

Juan Williams to Speak on the Civil Rights Movement in Conjunction with Witness to History: The March on Washington exhibit

Juan Williams, author of “My Soul Looks Back in Wonder: Voices of the Civil Rights Experience,” will speak on July 21, 2007 in the Department of the Interior Sidney R. Yates Auditorium. more

April 20, 2007 - Summer 2007

Rachel Carson Centennial Birthday Celebration

Rachel Louise Carson
(1907-1964) was a world-renowned marine biologist, author and environmentalist.
[FWS Photo]

The Interior Museum will be celebrating the centennial of the birthday of Rachel Carson with a new exhibit highlighting her history and legacy. Carson's work as an educator, scientist and writer revolutionized America's interest in environmental issues. She worked for the Department of the Interior from 1936-1952 where she created some of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's first public information brochures in a series called "Conservation in Action". Perhaps best known for her seminal work Silent Spring (1962), which documented the pesticide DDT's menace to the environment and its destructive effects birds of prey, Carson also had a passion for connecting children with nature. "If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder," she wrote, "he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in." The Interior Museum urges all parents, caregivers and educators to use Carson's centennial anniversary is an opportunity to reach children growing up in a digital age and rekindle their sense of wonder in nature. The exhibition opens to the public on April 20, 2007 and will be open for previewing during the Earth Day celebration at Rawlins Park on April 19, 2007.