What's New
Spread the word! We are currently accepting applications for our next museum internship. Our offering (position #3444) is one of more than 40 paid, museum collections-related opportunities available at Department of the Interior bureaus and offices nationwide. Don't delay! Applications are due November 10, 2019. Check it out >
Looking ahead, please note that in addition to the upcoming Federal holidays, the Interior Museum will be be closed on the following 2019 dates with no tours or exhibition access: Wednesday, November 27; Tuesday, December 24; and Tuesday, December 31.
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Upcoming Events
Join us for these free public programs
Museum Moment: Conservation Reveals Surprises on Historic Mural Maps
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
12:30 - 12:50 p.m.
Meet in the Interior Museum
Catch a 20-minute "Museum Moment" with the Interior Museum's registrar Jason Jurgena during your lunch break! The Museum's original exhibits from the 1930s may no longer be on view, but that doesn't mean they're gone. Many elements of them are now part of the Museum's permanent collection, and their purpose has transformed from didactic to historic, and sometimes even to artistic! Some of our recent art conservation efforts on large 1930s and 1940s painted mural maps featuring National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Bureau of Reclamation lands have unexpectedly yielded considerable insight into the Department of the Interior and its bureaus over time. Jason will share some of those surprises uncovered among the paint layers and will also have on hand some smaller examples of didactic-turned-museum-object for you to see.
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Native Bees, an Intro to the 400 Local Species, and Bee Connections to Management of Parks, Refuges, and Our Yards
Thursday, November 21, 2019
1:15 - 2:15 p.m.
Rachel Carson Room
Go to a park, look around...most of those plants are pollinated by insects: mostly bees. The local bee world is fabulously rich and complex with over 400 species in Maryland alone and almost 200 known from DC proper. You have about 100 species in your neighborhood. How many of your bee neighbors do you know? Likely very few...so this lecture is your introduction. Sam Droege, Head of the U.S. Geological Survey Native Bee Lab, will introduce you to your neighbors and discuss how the conservation of bees and bee decline (or increase) is linked to your actions and those of your public lands.
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Song of the Sea: Carvings of St. Lawrence Island
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
1:15 - 2:15 p.m.
Rachel Carson Room
For thousands of years, Alaska Native carvers utilized Pacific walrus, fossil mammoth, and mastodon ivory to produce a large variety of tools to help them survive the difficult and often hostile Arctic environment. In the late 19th century, a marketplace for ivory objects and art emerged, and over time it became an important economic resource for local artists. However, efforts to curb the trade of illegally harvested elephant ivory have negatively affected Alaska Native communities that rely on sales of walrus ivory carving to sustain their local economies and culture. This talk by Indian Arts and Craft Board Program Specialists Lars Krutak, Ph.D. and Ken Van Wey explores Alaska Native ivory carving history and contemporary issues, which are also being highlighted in an exhibition at the Indian Arts and Crafts Board's Sioux Indian Museum in Rapid City, South Dakota, through January 20, 2020.
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Locations: The Stewart Lee Udall Department of the Interior Building is at 1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20240. The Rachel Carson Room is adjacent to the cafeteria on the basement level of the building. The Auditorium is off the C Street Lobby. The Museum gallery is located on the first floor, just beyond the C Street Lobby visitor entrance.
Building Access: Visitor access to the Department of the Interior headquarters is through the C Street entrance lobby. Adults must present a valid, government-issued photo ID. All visitors will be subject to security screenings, including bag and parcel checks.
Special Assistance: For those in need of special assistance (such as an interpreter for the hearing impaired) or for inquiries regarding the accessible entrance, please contact museum staff at (202)-208-4743 in advance of the program. Special needs will be accommodated whenever possible.
View the full Events Calendar >
Public Tours
Discover the art and architecture that made the Stewart Lee Udall Department of the Interior Building a "symbol of a new day" during the Great Depression. Free, hour-long, public tours of the building are offered at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Please make advance reservations by calling the Museum at (202) 208-4743.
For groups of eight or more (e.g. for new employee or intern orientations, conference-related events, or professional development/team-building sessions), other weekday times may be arranged based upon staff availability; please call to schedule.
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For more information >
Collections Spotlight
Camera set and carrying case, circa 1910
U.S. Department of the Interior Museum, INTR 07743
While many photography enthusiasts find interest in vintage cameras, it turns out that this circa 1910 set is historically significant as well. Using this particular equipment was Dr. Joseph A. Holmes (1859-1915), widely regarded as the founding father of modern mine safety. He began his career in 1881 as a professor of geology and natural history at the University of North Carolina and was later the state geologist. In directing the Department of Mines and Metallurgy at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, Holmes gained the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt who in 1905 appointed him as the head of the U.S. Geological Survey's laboratories for testing fuels. Just two years later, he became the chief of its newly formed Technological Branch with a focus on the growing concern of high mortality mining explosions. When the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Mines was established in 1910, Holmes was the logical choice to serve as its first director. In the ensuing five years until his death in 1915, Holmes advocated for industry advances and life-saving innovations, popularizing the phrase "Safety First," equipping an experimental mine as a test bed for new safety methods, and outfitting Pullman rail cars for deployment in aid of mine rescue operations. Holmes is buried in Washington, D.C.'s Rock Creek Cemetery. His grave marker bears the Bureau of Mines seal and the epitaph, "First Director of the U.S. Bureau of Mines."
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