"A Material World" at the National Museum of American History

Abstract

The first floor of the National Museum of American History (NMAH) in Washington, D.C., has been, at least since 1980, the most studied and remodeled space in the entire Smithsonian Institution. The apparent objectives of all the remodeling efforts were to improve the circulation patterns and to create a more engaging, welcoming environment in this area, so notoriously reminiscent of a bus station, with its relatively low ceilings (or does it just seem that way?), bad lighting, and unforgiving terrazzo floor. Although more people actually enter the museum via its Mall entrance one floor above, this space still fills up with folks, and it's always a clangorous, bustling place. Weathering the decade's changes was the first-floor entry's prime attraction, the Foucault pendulum, perpetually swinging and knocking down those little red pegs for a cheering, delighted crowd. Make no mistake about it-this mesmerizing exhibit was popular. But it was above all a science exhibit, more at home in the Deutsches Museum or the Museum of Science and Industry than in a place that, in 1980, changed its name (from National Museum of History and Technology) and then got a subtitle, Science, Technology, and Culture, a place that in its programs, hiring, and exhibit planning was turning decisively in the direction of the social and cultural history. And so it seemed the pendulum's days were numbered, especially when its explanatory graphics and text were removed, and when it disappeared on a couple of occasions to accommodate a performing arts stage on the second floor. When plans emerged during the mid-1980s for a new exhibit on materials to occupy the first-floor pendulum area, the end truly seemed to have come. But amazingly, when The Big Change came,