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Happy 50th Anniversary National Museum of American History


On the evening of January 22, 1964, the Smithsonian hosted an A-List party to dedicate its newest museum, the Museum of History and Technology, now the 
National Museum of American History.  The building was the dream of its first director, Frank A. Taylor, who had joined the National Museum staff after high school, and after graduate school, advanced to Curator, Director, and Director General of all Smithsonian museums.  When Taylor returned from World War II, he recalled in an oral history interview, the exhibits in the old National Museum buildings looked shabby and out of date.  He first led an Exhibits Modernization Program, which oversaw the renovation of all the National Museum's exhibits from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s.  The new exhibits attracted new interest in the Institution among the U. S. Congress and donors.  The Smithsonian had been attempting to establish a separate history museum since the 1920s, but had met with little support.  Taylor initially sought to build a museum of technology, like the Deutsches Museum in Germany, but was convinced to include plans for a museum of American history.  With the support of the new Secretary, Leonard Carmichaellegislation was signed into law on June 31, 1956, creating the new museum. The first modern building on the National Mall, the new museum opened with ten exhibit halls completed, with an additional fifty opening in the following years.
Read entire article at The Smithsonian Institution Archives