Opening October 2025
Beginning October 2025, the National Archives Museum will reopen after a once-in-a generation redesign of two permanent, interactive exhibit spaces.
The American Story invites visitors to engage with 250 years of history by getting up close to documents in the National Archives collection and exploring immersive, interactive spaces.
In The American Story, visitors will encounter amazing artifacts from the National Archives, and use artificial intelligence (AI) to engage with American history.
What You Will See
- Original artifacts displayed: William Stone’s 1823 Declaration of Independence engraving; the Louisiana Purchase; various presidential state gifts; patents including those for the light bulb, the airplane, and the Barbie doll.
- Interacting with AI: Visitors to the National Archives Museum will encounter interactive, digital stations. At these stations, they can use AI to explore millions of records within the National Archives fully customized to their interests and personalize their visit.
- Immersive Media: The exhibits will feature immersive mediascapes created with original photographs, videos, oral histories and musical scores.
- Presidential Gifts Case: Visitors will see gifts from Presidential Libraries across the country. Exchanging gifts between foreign leaders and the president is a time-honored tradition. Gifts on display will include a set of horseshoes given to President George H. W. Bush by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1992, and a red necktie given to President Donald Trump by Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni in 2017.
- Picturing a Nation: This art gallery-style space will feature rotations of original photographs from the National Archives. The first rotation will feature the iconic work of Ansel Adams, with photographs of the National Parks and the American West.