The American Story: Exhibition Spotlight

The National Archives serves an outsized role in our country at this moment. As we grapple as a nation with how and what values drive policy, sentiment, laws, mores, behaviors, and citizen expectations, the documents that are foundational to life in the U.S. are still on display for public scrutiny. 

The Archives calls the collective documents including the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights the “Charters of Freedom.” Those three documents are the literal centerpiece of the main Archives building here in Washington, DC. The entire Rotunda and balance of remaining programming & exhibitions in the building –all the way down to ticketing, entrance, and egress–  have been built around access to the Charters of Freedom. But there is so much more to the Archives, especially to the average, non-researching visitor.

Officially, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) spans across the country in nearly 40 buildings including the main facility and museum in DC, a much larger archival storage and research facility nearby College Park Maryland, 10 regional archives, and 16 Presidential Libraries. In total, there are nearly 13 billion (13,000,000,000) documents under the purview of NARA. The building most associated with access to documents is the one you've probably visited -- the 1937 Archives building located on Constitution Avenue NW in DC. Aside from the Charters of Freedom, there are typically several other rotating exhibitions open in the museum portion of that building. 

A surprising amount of documents on permanent display were facsimiles; like the Emancipation Proclamation.

The amount of information about each document is astounding. From meaning behind the words to how the parchment was made.

The newest exhibition, “The American Story” is the most forward attempt by the Archives to connect the visiting public to the vast amount of documents it oversees. Using what the Archives themselves have described as an Artificial Intelligence interactive, the main interface in this exhibition is a network screens that suggest documents for you to explore based on a combination of interests that you choose at the start of the exhibition and either the document you’re exploring at that particular station or the theme of the room you are in at the time.

If you wish to keep track of the documents, you can grab a general entry ticket at the desk as you enter the Archives, after exciting security. You then scan that ticket at each touch screen kiosk in the exhibition as you interact along the way. At the exhibition exit, after your last scan, you have the option of navigation to a QR code linked to your personal ticket. There you can bookmark a unique web page on your phone in order to look in detail at all of your saved documents later. Hold on to the ticket! It’s good for the next year and you can return to add more documents to your unique web page. 

Here’s the web page for my last visit: https://archivesmuseum.org/14312293451. You can see which documents I saved in the exhibition in order to look more closely at them later at home.

For example, I saved this annotated draft copy of the Constitution that belonged to George Washington. You are able to see his hand-written notes in the margins! Now I can examine high quality digital files of this and other documents while I am at home. It’s not just an experience to be had inside the museum. 

How did I discover this George Washington related document? When I created my initial profile attached to my ticket, along with basic topical interests like founding documents, I indicated that I wanted to be offered associated items in the form of paper documents, photographs, and maps. These are all digitized of course. So at some point looking through the exhibition, the “AI Archives" program suggested that I save this document, which I did. Now I can bookmark this page in my browser for research purposes or just to relive the experience. Exploring further, I can also see where the actual paper document lives within the Archives system (actually in this same building!). Overall, on this visit I saved 34 documents which live across 6 different archive facilities and 2 presidential libraries. 

It is somewhat random, as many of the suggested documents were not at all linked to the content I was viewing or had very tenuous links to my purported interests. I’m not sure how this “AI” suggestion system is any different than an associated keyword search or metadata match.

Immersive technology lets you read a document while using an overlying touch screen to learn more.

On a separate, more personal ticket, I saved some of my personal family information from a century-old Census record. You can begin basic genealogical research in this exhibition, too. There are privacy safeguards. Visitors are forced to link any saved ancestral/genealogical information accessed in the exhibition to a personal email address. This prevents that information from showing up to anyone who might find a lost ticket or randomly link to your Archives page online.

Along with a strong start featuring a deep dive into key documents like the Declaration, Emancipation Proclamation, and Louisiana Purchase (featuring mostly facsimile documents however), the exhibition branches out with a smattering of other topical deep dives including presidential gifts (received by), interesting patent history, genealogy, a thematic rotating photo gallery (currently featuring Ansel Adams), and a kids & family focused discovery center with "gamified" research and fun-fact stations.

Profile of journalist and suffragist Ida B. Wells.

Profile of Frank Kameny and a letter he personally sent to President Kennedy.

One key attention grabbing aspect of select kiosks is the highlighting of personal profiles. The profiles are of influential or compelling change makers from American history that are related to the section of the exhibition you happen to be in or nearby documents to the kiosk. At the very first kiosk I was shown profiles of Ida B. Wells and Frank Kamany, two Americans I was immensely glad to see included in the exhibition. Linked to each profile are related government documents, of course – docs related to each person’s activism, struggle, or occasionally mundane government paperwork that became symbols of those struggles. I thought this was an extremely effective way to give a certain document meaning. We’re used to recognizing the importance of the written words on a few sheets of lined paper that make up the Emancipation Proclamation, for example. But, the links to other, lesser known documents or government paperwork along with the profile of the person who wrote or filled it out, AND the context as to why that mundane submission might have importance, kept me at the kiosk looking up various individuals and their related docs. Especially folks I have never read or learned about before. 

Overall, “The American Story" is a success, insofar as it provides a new, clever, and mostly accessible way to interact with the documents held in the Archives. And even though the “AI” is somewhat of a gimmicky idea to me in this case, the system does result in delivering suggestive documents in a way meaningful to one’s interests. I will also give points for the opportunity to discover transformative individual Americans at each station, relative to the documents on view in that section. On the other hand, the whole exhibition doesn’t come nearly as close to telling any one version of “THE” or even “AN” American story. The exhibition is just too scattered to weave a solid overall narrative. There are solid pocket narratives related to presidential decision making, westward expansion, innovation, and founding documents. And I can’t offer too many demerits outside of picking a slightly misleading name to the exhibition. If one is looking for a more cohesive and comprehensive national narrative, I  would visit any number of exhibitions in the nearby National Museum of American History or even NMAI or NMAAHC for that type of experience. 

The American Story is a permanent exhibition at the Archives and as such, has no closing date. It’s open 10am to 5:30pm daily with the rest of the Archives. The exhibition is located on the same floor as the Rotunda and Charters of Freedom.

Exhibition Spotlight: "I’ll Have What She’s Having”: The Jewish Deli

Learning through food histories is a fascinating & compelling way to explore the past and learn about peoples, regions, and cultures. For instance, a few years ago I wrote a 60 minute food histories of DC program for a client and through this strictly food-based research, I learned so much more about the District of Columbia itself. A new exhibition at the Capital Jewish Museum titled "I’ll Have What She’s Having”: The Jewish Deli encapsulates all of that same sentiment and more.

From exploring the effects of 20th century immigration, to defining the actual foods served in delis, to surprisingly relevant modern day pop culture movie references, this exhibition is more than just a food history. It showcases how American Jews, through delis, created new American food traditions, ensured continuity of important established traditions, and practiced a time-tested, cross cultural social exercise — sitting down together to have a meal.

Of course, since this is the Capital Jewish Museum —as in Washington, DC— there is a solid emphasis on the DC area history in deli culture from present day and years past. That includes the suburbs of Washington, too. Not to mention the existing interactive computer display of delis and other Jewish owned business, schools, places of worship, and significant sites in the ongoing exhibition (Connect. Reflect. Act.).

I loved the mix of laying groundwork through immigration histories while showing present day ephemera that makes every individual deli that particular deli — uniforms, menus, equipment, signage, and advertisements. We have all seen these places in everyday city life, but the context and meaning make seeing the exhibition more of a journey. And of course, if you explore it all from beginning to end, you'll get to watch the namesake, payoff “I’ll have what she’s having” film scene in the final gallery. Admittedly a somewhat hilarious sounding clip if you haven't seen the movie and you hear it while making your way through the adjacent room in the exhibition.

“I’ll Have What She’s Having”: The Jewish Deli” is on view through August 20, 2024. As a special exhibition, it does require an entrance ticket of $15. The rest of the museum is free with timed ticket. Walk-ins are excepted as space permits. 575 3rd St NW.

Exhibition Spotlight: Brilliant Exiles

Josephine Baker est aux Folies-Bergère. Lithograph, 1936. ByMichel Gyarmathy (1908-1996).

Happy belated birthday Josephine Baker! The singer, dancer, and actor who captivated Paris in the 1920s was born 118 years ago this week, on June 3, 1906.

Baker was but one of many innovative and creative American women who moved to Paris in the early 20th century seeking personal autonomy along with professional agency and success.

Some of these “brilliant exiles” are profiled in the new National Portrait Gallery exhibition by the same name, “Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900-1939.” The exhibition is open through February 23, 2025.

Loïs Mailou Jones 1905-1998. Charcoal and chalk on textured paper, c. 1940. By Céline Tabary (1908-1993) .

Gertrude Stein 1874-1946. Oil on canvas, 1905-6. By Pablo Picasso (1881-1973).

The show is made up of nearly 80 works of art, mostly in the form of portraits. The portraits are of, and sometimes also by these Americans who shifted and elevated the Paris culture through literature, visual, arts, dance, drama, and philosophy.

Portraiture has a way of annunciating identity in a more evocative way than even the written word can. This exhibition does that in a simple way, letting the paintings speak for themselves.

Baker, like the other American women featured in the exhibition, did not leave the U.S. and land in Paris by accident or coincidence. Crushing legal and social limitations in the U.S. left little room for freedom expression for independent and talented women. Restrictions were based not on just gender, but sexuality, race, economic stratifications, and politics. Paris was not a panacea for all U.S. societal ills, but the artistic climate offered more independence, agency, and freedom to an extent that, for these women, the U.S. could not compare.

Mercedes de Acosta 1893-1968. Oil on canvas, 1923. By Abram Poole (1882-1961).

Baker herself moved to Paris in 1925. She did return to the U.S. for short stints in theatrical productions, and more extensively to lend her aid to the cresting civil rights movements in the 1960s. But by then she was a Parisian through and through, having gained French citizenship way back in 1937. Baker died in Paris, passing away in her sleep on April 12, 1975, just days after performing in a show marking her 50th year of her Paris debut.

This exhibitions is about more than Baker herself. The portraits that make up the show give a luminescent view into the personality, and dare I say, aura, of the people captured. This is high recommend to visit before the show closes in February of 2025!

This and all Exhibition Spotlights are brought to you by our wonderful Patrons. Patrons get monthly insight into new and upcoming museum exhibitions, DC history posts, photographs not shown anywhere else, and more. If you like this post, there’s way more at Patreon.com/AttucksAdams! Memberships start at just $3/month.

In Exaltation of Flowers: Rose- Geranium; Petunia-Caladium-Budleya; and Golden-Banded Lily-Violets. Katharine Nash Rhoades 1885-1965. Marion H. Beckett 1886-1949. Mercedes de Cordoba Carles 1879-1963. Tempera and gold leaf on canvas, 1910-13. By Edward Steichen(1879-1973).

Video: Beyond Granite Reflections

With the Beyond Granite exhibition closing a few weeks ago, I wanted to take a moment to delve into the meaning of commemoration here in Washington, DC. This video offers notes on the specific elements of each of the six installations, but also delves into the motivations behind the artists' design choices.

What truly struck me was the profound way in which these installations connected with the existing commemorative landscape of the Mall. It was fascinating to witness the powerful intersections between history, art, and remembrance, and how they all intertwine to create a tapestry of meaning that —in theory— transcends time. Even if the exhibition was but one month in duration, the reflection on commemoration will continue.

Thanks to all Patrons whose support make videos like this possible. For more video blogs, photos, behind the scenes in tour creation, tour previews, or just to support my work, check out tiers of membership here.

Exhibition Spotlight: Afrofuturism

Surprisingly, one of the more intriguing parts of my recent visit to the Afrofuturism exhibition was the exhibition booklet. Typically, the exhibitors booklet --if there even is one-- is a mostly ephemeral folded pamphlet with obligatory, but duplicate information. I will usually pick one up whenever I first enter a new exhibition, but if it looks like I won't get anything out to it, I put it back in the rack for the next person.

Not so with Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures. Just as the NMAAHC has done with their exhibition websites, they have created a booklet that compliments and extends your experience beyond exhibition. It is deemed a "Cosmic Companion" and that rings true. 

The booklet helps you plan your walk through the exhibitors with "Discover Treks," offers prompts and questions to enhance your visit beyond the objects, and even offers tips on how to interact with the museum itself; from defining the word "object" wo helping you manage the time you have to see it all. I really loved the booklet and have been flipping through it the past few days admiring the work that went into it. 

As for the exhibition itself, it is a vast, but also focused on the evolving concept of Afrofuturism. Yes, it does concern the future, but also the past. It posits past and present struggles for freedom as afrofuturist in nature; reimagining a future of freedom and autonomy. 

The exhibition delves into multiple disciplines such as music, movies, television shows, literature, comics, commentary, and poetry. 

The objects and displays are broken up into three "Zones" -- 1) The History of Black Futures 2) New Black Futures 3) Infinite Possibilites. In between the Zones are "Portals," a tiny transitional story to the next section. There is even a looping replay of Gil Scott-Heron's "Whitey on the Moon" looping in one of the portals. Love it.

It's a vast exhibition that explores multiple aspects of what "future" has meant, and could mean as concept. This is a great follow up to the Smithsonian's FUTURES exhibition last summer at the Arts & Industries Building. 

Afrofuturism will be open for exactly one year: March 24, 2023 - March 24, 2024. It's located on Concourse Level C1, the first thing you see on the left after talking the escalator from the ground level down to the lower level exhibitions. 

Reserve tickets to the Museum here (link).