What's New
In Case You Missed It
Thomas Moran's panoramic masterpieces, The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (1872) and The Chasm of the Colorado (1873–1874), are back at the Interior Museum anchoring our newest exhibition, Thomas Moran & the "Big Picture". In capturing the natural beauty of Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon, Thomas Moran's monumental canvases shaped impressions of the American West in the nineteenth century and forever framed the discourse surrounding public lands. The exhibition opened—albeit virtually, due to COVID-19—on September 25, the eve of National Public Lands Day. Relive some of the excitement:
Continue to follow along on Twitter and Facebook (@InteriorMuseum) with the hashtag, #BigPictureMorans. We'll be sure to post updates on the museum's reopening, just as soon as plans are finalized for resuming safe public access and operations. We look forward to having you experience these paintings in person!
Mural Conservation
Conservators came onsite last month to provide a little TLC for a pair of murals painted by artist Daniel Galvez in commemoration of the Department of the Interior's 150th anniversary in 1999. Located in the busy, central thoroughfare of our headquarters building, Guardians of the Past and Stewards for the Future require monitoring and periodic care to keep them looking their best. On this visit, conservators did some meticulous spot cleaning and reapplied a special adhesive to the edges of the canvas to ensure that the murals remain firmly affixed to the walls.
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Internship Opportunity
Spread the word! We will soon be accepting applications for our next museum internship. Our 640-hour offering is one of dozens of paid, museum collections-related opportunities available at Department of the Interior bureaus and offices nationwide. Once the all-new internship web portal goes live on October 9, don't delay; applications are due by November 1, 2020.
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Behind-the-Scenes
Our expanded gallery space is being outfitted with six state-of-the-art display cases. Upon completion, not only will they have 21st-century functionality but also some of the same historic, architectural details as the cases that graced the museum in the 1930s.
In September, Interior Museum staff visited the case fabricators for a progress inspection. Because two of the cases will be very large, it is critical for future exhibits that the platforms can accommodate and structurally bear the weight of a person working to install museum objects. Here's our chief curator testing out that feature…success!
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Collections Spotlight
Department of the Interior seal medallion, circa 1930
Bronze, 42" diameter
U.S. Department of the Interior Museum, INTR 07775
This large bronze Department of the Interior official seal was inset as a floor medallion in the lobby of the government building that still stands at the corner of 18th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, in Washington, DC. The building was constructed in 1932 by and for the U.S. Public Health Service and its Surgeon General. After many interim uses, staff associated with the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) moved into the building in April 1965, and the facility became known as the South Interior Building (SIB). When the Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) was created in 1977, its headquarters joined BIA at the SIB.
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The Interior concluded its GSA lease of the SIB in 2017, and BIA and OSMRE employees relocated to the Main Interior Building a block away. With the former SIB now re-leased to a new government tenant and undergoing extensive renovations, Interior Museum staff sought to obtain this floor medallion as a tangible reminder of the Interior's long history in the SIB. Coordination with GSA, Interior's Office of Facilities and Administrative Services, and construction contractors resulted in the medallion's careful extraction from the floor and transport to our collection in early September. The seal itself has design elements to suggest it had been repurposed from the late 1920s or early 1930s; it features a bison in left profile but with its head turned to face the viewer.
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