What's New
Future Works for Collection to Showcase Public Lands
Art has been inextricably linked with the history of public lands—from artists accompanying government-sponsored expeditions to artists shaping public perception of majestic landscapes. In recognition of the key roles artists play in capturing the collective imagination and encouraging the preservation of these lands for future generations, several Department of the Interior bureaus offer Artist-in-Residence (AiR) programs.
In recent years, the Interior Museum has established partnerships with these AiR programs helping our collection grow to more fully represent the geographic and thematic diversity of the nation's public lands. New works by contemporary artists resulting from 2021 partnerships will feature the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Alaska); the Bureau of Land Management's corridor along the Dalton Highway (Alaska); and the National Park Service's Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument (New Mexico) and Shenandoah National Park (Virginia).
Pictured above: Homestead 1862-2020 by Nancy Lehenbauer Marshall, 2020, oil on canvas, 24" x 24" (U.S. Department of the Interior Museum, OSAC 07355), inspired by the artist's recent residency at Homestead National Historical Park in Nebraska.
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Did You Know…?
 April 16, 1936: Interior Secretary Harold Ickes speaks at the cornerstone ceremony for the new Department of the Interior Building. The United States Marine Band is seated on the terrace. Also visible in the crowd are project architect Waddy Wood, presidential aide Gus Gennerich, and (above and to the left of the podium) a delegation from the Hopi Tribe. (U.S. Department of the Interior Museum, INTR 07449)
April 16 will mark the 85th anniversary of the cornerstone being laid for our current Department of the Interior headquarters building in Washington, DC. The public ceremony kicked off at 11 a.m. that day in 1936, drawing large crowds. The speaking program featured chair of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission Frederic A. Delano, Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In his prepared remarks, Secretary Ickes noted, "This new building represents much more to us than merely better and more desirable office space … it is to us a symbol of a new day." President Roosevelt echoed this in his keynote address that followed: "As I view this serviceable new structure, I like to think of it as symbolical of the Nation's vast resources, and this stone that I am about to lay as the cornerstone of a conservation policy that will guarantee to future Americans the richness of their heritage."
Fun fact: the trowel used to lay the cornerstone was the same one President George Washington used when placing the U.S. Capitol's cornerstone in 1793!
Collections Spotlight
Jardinière basket
Unknown maker (Chippewa), circa 1925
Black cherry bark, birch bark, sweetgrass, thread
9" high x 11" diameter
U.S. Department of the Interior Museum, INTR 00712
Happy spring! If your attentions are turning to April showers bringing May flowers, you are not alone!
This piece is known as a jardinière basket, an item popular in the first half of the 20th century for holding ferns or potted plants. This one was created by an unidentified Chippewa artist, most likely in the mid 1920s. Its form is reminiscent of a seed pod or blossom, with its rim flared into seven distinct "petals." Black cherry bark has been plaited to form the basket's outer surface and is lined on the inside with a birch bark cutout. It is edged in sweetgrass and sewn together with commercial black thread. A splint appliquéd flower made from birch bark adorns the front of the piece.
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