Lava rock, black coral, and botanical specimens are on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. this week as part of a new exhibit called “From These Lands: Sharing Our Natural and Cultural Heritage,” which opened on June 18.
On July 4, the U.S. will turn 250 years old, which marks the nation’s semiquincentennial. In celebration of that milestone, the exhibit, which will be on display through December 2029, includes more than 600 specimens and cultural objects from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories.
“This exhibit is part of what the National Museum of Natural History is doing in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the U.S.,” Torben Rick, co-curator of the exhibit and curator of North American archeology told Aloha State Daily. “The Smithsonian — and all of our various museums and centers — are each doing something that's contemplative, and then also reflective on the nature of what that anniversary means.”
Not planning to go to Washington D.C. any time soon? Explore some of the exhibit online, where a map connects more than 170 items with their place of origin.
The exhibit “From These Lands: Sharing Our Natural and Cultural Heritage,” includes more than 600 specimens and cultural objects from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories, including American Samoa, which is represented by the items shown here. (Courtesy of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History) 
California is represented by about 40 items in the exhibit, including this one. (Courtesy of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History) 
This is one of the items chosen to represent Florida. (Courtesy of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History) 
This item was chosen to represent New Hampshire. (Courtesy of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History) 
This item was chosen to represent Iowa. (Courtesy of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History)
The National Museum of Natural History has more than 148 million objects and specimens, according to the Smithsonian website. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution, which is the largest museum, education and research complex in the world and consists of more than 20 museums — many of which are in the Washington D.C. area — as well as the National Zoo. Admission to all of these museums, except Cooper Hewitt in New York City, is free.
To create this exhibit, its curators, including Rick, asked members of the museum community to submit ideas. The process started about three years ago, he added.
“We try to create as democratic a process as possible, and so we had a call that went out to the entire museum community to pitch items that they thought should go in this exhibit,” Rick said. “We hosted a workshop, and then a series of workshops after that, where people could present on this and debate and discuss. We whittled down to about 1,000 or so and then put those up on a wall, and our core team — the six of us, the co-curators and our exhibit designers and writers — debated those and then went back and forth with different scientific departments, and visitors, and volunteers, and thought: ʻWhat are the best things to tell the stories that represent the breadth of our natural history and cultural heritage?’ And then through a lot of contemplation — a lot of discussion — we came down to the over 600 objects that we have in there.”
Each item on display in this exhibit was already part of a permanent collection.
“Most of them had never been on display before,” he added.
The exhibit features items from different states grouped together by common themes, such as anthropology, botany, entomology and more. Since the exhibit is organized to showcase connections between the states, it can feel like a scavenger hunt for visitors, who can explore the space to find items from the state where they live or places they like to visit, Rick said.
Each state has at least four to six specimens to represent it, the co-curator added. For Hawaiʻi, there are 13 items. California has the highest number of things to represent it with about 40 objects, he added.
“We created an exhibit where we wanted people to come in and more than see what's from a particular state, we wanted them to see the connections between the states,” he said. “And to see that really natural history knows no borders — the rivers, the streams, the birds that fly — they all cross over those political boundaries.”
Learn more about the exhibit.
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Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
