‘Rocket Row,’ a display of space rockets along the outside of the Smithsonian Arts + Industries Building’s west entrance in 1959, when AIB held aviation and space collections prior to construction of the National Air and Space Museum, Image # SIA-2002-12168, Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives. Early natural history displays at the Smithsonian’s US National Museum, today the Arts + Industries building, Late 19th c., Image #SIA-2002-12132, Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives.Kids gather around a moon rock in 1969, displayed in the Smithsonian Arts + Industries Building’s rotunda just 6 weeks after the Apollo mission first returned to earth, Image #SIA-OPA-1564-28, Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives.A chemistry lab for experiments in the Arts + Industries Building, early 1900s, Image #SIA-MAH-11087B-000002, Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Early displays in the Arts + Industries Building, 1890s, Image #SIA-MNH-2599, Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives.Audiences crowd for a public lecture in the newly-opened Arts + Industries Building, 1890s, Image# SIA-2002-10632. Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives.Early natural history displays at the Smithsonian’s US National Museum, today the Arts + Industries building, Late 19th c, Image #SIA-NHB-16855, Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives.The Arts + Industries Building, then the U.S. National Museum, decorated for the inaugural ball of James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur, the first public use of the new museum building, Image #SIA-AI-19070, Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Crowds gather to visit the newly opened U.S. National Museum on the National Mall, 1880s-90s, Image #SIA-2002-10624, Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives.Smithsonian conservationists care for the Star Spangled Banner, displayed in the Arts + Industries Building until the early 1960s. Courtesy Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis on display in the Arts + Industries Building, late 1920s, Image #SIA-2002-12192-000002, Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives.The earliest known photo of the Smithsonian’s headquarters, known as the ‘Castle,’ under construction in 1850, William Langenheim (1807-1874) and Frederick Langenheim (1809-1879), photographers, Smithsonian Institution Castle Collection. Gift of Tom Rall, Arlington, Virginia.
