What's New
The Interior Museum wishes you and yours a happy holiday season. 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: Tuesday, December 24; and Tuesday, December 31.
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Upcoming Events
Join us for these free public programs
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. A presentation about Alaska Native ivory carving history and contemporary issues will be provided by Indian Arts and Craft Board Program Specialists Lars Krutak, Ph.D. and Ken Van Wey, with special guest speaker Alaska Native master carver Ben Pungowiyi (St. Lawrence Island Yupik). Pungowiyi's carvings are featured in an exhibition of St. Lawrence Island carvers at the Indian Arts and Crafts Board’s Sioux Indian Museum in Rapid City, South Dakota, from October 24, 2019 to January 20, 2020.
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Museum Moment: Ansel Adams and the Mural Project of 1941-1942
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
12:30 - 12:50 p.m.
Meet in the Interior Museum
Catch a 20-minute "Museum Moment" with the Interior Museum's chief curator Tracy Baetz during your lunch break! Did you know that celebrated photographer and conservationist Ansel Adams was briefly a per diem employee with the Department of the Interior? You'll hear the story of how he was commissioned by the Department to produce a series of photographs showcasing the "grandeur and influence of the Natural Scene" and have an opportunity to view a selection of the more than 200 images he created for the project.
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Protecting People in Parks: 100 Years of Partnership between the National Park Service and the United States Public Health Service
Wednesday, February 5, 2019
1:15 – 2:15 p.m.
Rachel Carson Room
Since 1921, the United States Public Health Service, one of the United States' seven uniformed services, has partnered with the National Park Service (NPS) to protect and promote the health of employees and visitors in public lands. Join Captain Sara B. Newman, Director, Office of Public Health, National Park Service to learn more about this nearly 100-year partnership as well as the role of DOI officers have in protecting people in parks from major disease outbreaks and from natural disasters.
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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
Navajos Breaking Camp
Ira Diamond Gerald Cassidy (1879–1934), circa 1928
Oil on canvas
Museum purchase, 1935
U.S. Department of the Interior Museum, INTR 01590
Artist Gerald Cassidy left his job as a commercial art director in New York and moved to New Mexico for health reasons at the age of 20. The people and scenery of the Southwest would come to define Cassidy's artistic career and legacy. He became a founding member of the Santa Fe Artists' Colony in 1912 but passed away unexpectedly in 1934 while painting a WPA mural for a Federal building in Santa Fe.
At the request of Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, this piece was specifically bought for the Department in 1935 from Cassidy's widow. At the time, it was one of the few instances of a Government purchase of a painting not under direct commission or through relief rolls regulations. While the painting was intended for display in the future Interior Museum, which opened in 1938, the piece has hung in the secretary's suite nearly continuously since its arrival at the Department. It depicts sunrise over the Navajo Nation near Smith Lake in northwestern New Mexico, with tribal members breaking camp after a healing ceremony. Between 1928 and 1932, Cassidy attended many Navajo ceremonies and made hundreds of sketches to inform his artistic work.
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