Archives Center

Welcome to the Archives Center

The Archives Center supports the mission of the National Museum of American History by collecting, preserving, and providing access to archival documents that complement the museum's exhibition, research, and collecting programs. The Archives Center holds more than 1,500 collections documenting the history of technology, invention and innovation, business and consumer culture, American music, and popular culture as well as many other topics.
 

 

District of Columbia Africana Archives Project
The Archives Center completed its work as part of a $496,000 grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources to establish the D.C Africana Archives Project. The grant aimed to document African American and African culture, history and politics in D.C. through photographs and documents held by people and organizations throughout the city.
 
The Archives Center worked with The George Washington University-the lead grant recipient-as well as the District of Columbia Archives, Howard University's Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, and the Historical Society of Washington, D.C.
 
Finding aids for collections processed under the grant are available on the Archives Center's Collections page and at the District of Columbia Africana Archives Project (Finding Aids by Institution).