Field Trip: National Museum of American History
I believe in field trips. I believe that learning more about the world teaches you more about yourself. I believe that one of the best ways to learn is through experience.
I love going out on field trips into the world to learn things. I especially love going out on field trips to museums and taking in everything they have to offer. I love that when you're at a museum, you're in the presence of someone's artwork. Not necessarily in the paintings or sculptures kind of artwork -- but artwork in the way that someone who really cares about something, has put together a curated space for you to learn about this thing that they are passionate about. It's another form of storytelling.
A few weekends back my parents and my sister met J and me in Washington DC for a weekend. We celebrated my mom's birthday with a great dinner on Saturday night and then spent Sunday at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
Confession: I am a huge sucker for American History. I love the American Revolution and the Founding of the Nation. My favorite musical is Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and I think the Constitution is just fabulous as a document of governance. I also believe that being a good American citizen means that the government needs to be questioned at times -- but that's for another post.
I loved this museum. We spent about five hours here total -- and I could have easily spent another three or four. We started at the top of the museum and went into The American Presidency exhibit, which started off with an amazing wing dedicated to the First Ladies. While the exhibit did focus on the dresses of the First Ladies, (as it has been tradition to gift the Smithsonian with the First Lady's inaugural ball gown) it did an exceptional job of explaining how each of the dresses exhibited the style and history of the First Lady. There was an obvious effort to put the First Ladies decisions and style to be forefront, instead of the fashion itself.
In college I studied Political Science and Women's and Gender Studies and my focus was on Women in American Politics. So this exhibit gave me all the feels -- especially when I got down to the Eleanor Roosevelt, Dolly Madison, and Abby Adams parts of the exhibit. All the feels. It really hit home how so many of these women were their husband's confidants and trusted advisers. It reminded me that even though women's stories may be few and far between, the influence of women has crafted the world.
As I mentioned earlier, I'm a huge sucker for anything about the Revolutionary War and the founding of the United States. After The American Presidency exhibit, we walked over to the Price of Freedom exhibit (I thought the title was a little over the top, but whatever). It was filled with lots of artifacts from the war -- I guess when you're the National Museum of American History you get good dibs on American History artifacts. The next photo is of George Washington's uniform -- like the actual clothes that the man wore...how cool is that?
I probably spent way too much time here, everyone else in my family was already so much further ahead, but I needed to grab a photo of this drum. As soon as I saw it I thought of the Parks & Recreation episode where the Pawnee Goddesses run rampant over the Pawnee Rangers and Leslie apologizes to Ron with The Swansons.
Are you tough as nails? Would you rather sleep on a bed of pine needles than a mattress? Do you find video games pointless and shopping malls stupid? Do you march to the beat of your own drummer? Did you make the drum yourself? If so, you might just have what it takes to be a Swanson.
I think a lot of the Revolutionary War soldiers had what it took to be a Swanson (and maybe even a Pawnee Goddess). It was really cool seeing actual artifacts from the war and just how small men were back then.
Other highlights:
American Stories exhibit -- the Ruby Red Slippers, an original Apple Computer, The NBC microphone, Ben Franklin's walking stick, and just other cool things.
The Flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner (it's huge and amazing, and it was made by a woman and her daughters in their home).
Rising Up: Hale Woodruff’s Murals at Talladega College (closed 3/1/2015).
The food in the cafeteria was totally edible, and probably not the worst option if you're spending the whole day at the museum.