What's New
Spread the word! We are currently accepting applications for our next museum internship. Our offering (position #3579) is one of more than 70 paid, museum collections-related opportunities available at Department of the Interior bureaus and offices nationwide. Don't delay! Applications are due March 2, 2020. Check it out >
Upcoming Events
Join us for these free public programs
“Upon this Rock . . .”: 1318 Vermont Avenue, N.W. and the African American Women Who United for Change
Wednesday, March 4, 2020
1:15 – 2:15 p.m.
Rachel Carson Room
Join NPS Park Guide John T. Fowler, II for a discussion on Mary McLeod Bethune, the National Council of Negro Women, Inc. (NCNW), and the countless African American women who faced the challenges of race and gender with a tireless spirit and determination. Learn more about how the “Council House” provided the setting for countless meetings in which NCNW members discussed pivotal national events, how they created and implemented programs to combat discrimination, and how Bethune (and her successors) helped give a voice to black women, all while creating an organization that has continued to fulfill her vision more than 60 years after her death.
|
Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital: Conservation Center Stage - Films by Eric Bendick and Joe Flannery
Friday March, 13, 2020
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Sidney R. Yates Auditorium
Join us on March 13, 2020, as we are a host venue for a selection of film shorts for the 28th Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital.
Conservation Center Stage: Films by Eric Bendick & Joe Flannery features the D.C. premiere of Legacy (U.S., 2019, 18 minutes), the D.C. premiere of The Last Herd (U.S., 2018, 22 minutes), and the world premiere of The Sentinels (U.S., 2020, 28 minutes). The screenings will be followed by a discussion with Joe Flannery and a panel discussion with Eric Bendick and coalition members of the Sentinel Landscapes Partnership, moderated by Dustin Renwick (Program Officer, Storytelling Grants, National Geographic).
FREE with reservations >> Full program description, filmmaker bios, and free tickets available via the Environmental Film Festival site.
|
Friday March, 20, 2020
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Sidney R. Yates Auditorium
Join us on March 20, 2020, as we are a host venue for the 28th Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital.
Featured will be the world premiere of Collodion: The Process of Preservation (U.S., 2020, 76 minutes). The lens of photographer and physician Eric Overton captures a fearless and uncommonly vulnerable self-portrait of American wilderness, our relationship to each other, and the possibility that nature itself may be all we need to find common ground.
A discussion with filmmaker Eric Overton will follow the screening.
FREE with reservations >> Full program, filmmaker bios, and free tickets available through the Environmental Film Festival site.
|
Museum Moment: WPA Park Posters – An Artistic Legacy
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
12:30 – 12:50 p.m.
Meet in the Interior Museum
Getting cabin fever? Join the Interior Museum’s registrar Jason Jurgena for a 20-minute “Museum Moment” during your lunch break and travel vicariously to 13 national parks. From our collection he’ll be sharing contemporary prints inspired by the iconic WPA national park posters of the late 1930s.
Hear their fascinating backstory and learn why these designs resonate with park and vintage graphics enthusiasts alike. As a special bonus, you’ll see two rare originals recently donated to the museum.
Museum Moments are a series of brief, 20-minute informal presentations in which you can count on hearing, visiting, learning, or seeing something fascinating related to the Department of the Interior's history. It might be a special artifact, a tie-in with a historical event, a mini-tour, a new addition to the museum's collection, or even a behind-the-scenes peek at a current museum project.
|
Museum Moment: The 84th Anniversary of Laying the Cornerstone
Thursday, April 16, 2020
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. On this date 84 years ago, the cornerstone was laid for Federal Public Works Project No. 4—the Department of the Interior's current headquarters building! You'll see a printed program and archival photos from the event, hear about the various dignitaries in attendance, and even visit the spot where a commemorative time capsule was placed.
Museum Moments are a series of brief, 20-minute informal presentations in which you can count on hearing, visiting, learning, or seeing something fascinating related to the Department of the Interior's history. It might be a special artifact, a tie-in with a historical event, a mini-tour, a new addition to the museum's collection, or even a behind-the-scenes peek at a current museum project.
|
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 Sidney R. Yates 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.
|
For more information >
Collections Spotlight
Untitled
Arthur Amiotte (b. 1942), 1981
Oil on canvas
U.S. Department of the Interior Museum, OSAC 02778
Oglala Lakota artist Arthur Amiotte is widely celebrated for both his scholarly pursuits and his artwork. He has served as a Commissioner for the Department of the Interior's Indian Arts and Crafts Board and has authored numerous articles on historical and contemporary American Indian art. He left university teaching in 1985 to become an artist full-time and is particularly known for his collages which focus on the juxtaposition of the traditional with the modern in Lakota culture.
This painting—created in 1981 while Amiotte was participating in a National Park Service artist in residence program—boldly yet abstractly depicts the mountainous landscape of Montana's Glacier National Park. Note the fox in the lower left.
|
