FAQ—Media
The Office of Communications and Marketing answers frequently asked questions from the media. Visit the Press Room for contact information, press releases, and more.
Please contact the Office of Communications and Marketing at 202-633-3129 for detailed information and images about all of the museum’s exhibitions. Images are usually available on a special FTP site. The Office of Communications and Marketing can provide you information on accessing this site.
From lunch boxes to trains, elections to knitting, and sports to computers, the National Museum of American History staff has expertise in the nation’s social, political, scientific and technological history. If you are looking for an expert on a particular topic, please contact the Office of Communications and Marketing to see if an interview can be arranged. Please allow plenty of lead time for these interviews.
To use any text, image, audio, or video for commercial use, publication, broadcast, documentary, or for any purpose other than fair use as defined by law, you must request and receive prior written permission from the museum. To request permission and/or image reproductions, please visit our Rights and Reproductions page.
The Office of Communications and Marketing handles all filming requests for the museum. Producers/directors should contact the office at 202-633-3129 with complete information about what and when they want to film, and if possible, a treatment of the script. The Smithsonian has a film policy in place which includes access fees for filming on the premises and additional fees for security and other expenses. Because of staff availability, not all requests may be accommodated.
Photography is permitted in the museum with the exception of a few exhibitions (such as the Star-Spangled Banner) that are clearly marked. Public use of a tripod or lights is not permitted. News photographers and videographers need to make arrangements with the Office of Communications and Marketing by calling 202-633-3129. Because of staff availability, not all requests may be accommodated.
Please contact the museum's Office of Curatorial Affairs by email to obtain the proper procedure for donating items to the museum's collections.
It is against Smithsonian policy to provide appraisal or valuation services. If you are interested in having an item appraised, we recommend you contact the American Society of Appaisers.
The National Museum of American History has three floors of exhibition space, or about 200,000 square feet devoted to gallery space.
The museum has approximately four million visitors per year.
The National Museum of American History has approximately 1.8 million objects in its collections, and about 5–8% of the collection is on view at any one time.
Among our most popular exhibitions are:
- First Ladies: Political Role and Public Image
- The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden
- our transportation history collections in America on the Move
- Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers
- the Bunkers' chairs from “All in the Family"; and
- Jim Henson’s puppet Kermit the frog,
California philanthropist Kenneth E. Behring made the largest single gift to the Smithsonian Institution in the fall of 2000, donating $20 million to the National Museum of Natural History and $80 million to the National Museum of American History for a total of $100 million. In recognition of this gift, the building that houses the National Museum of American History was designated as the "Kenneth E. Behring Center." The name of the Museum has not changed.
