If you like kitsch, you won't want to miss the bizarre melange of cultural artifacts at the National Museum of American History . George Washington's wooden teeth, Muhammad Ali's boxing gloves, and the ruby slippers Judy Garland wore in The Wizard of Oz are set among didactic displays tracing the country's development. It's not so much a center for scholarly study as a sanctuary for vanishing Americana, incorporating Model T Fords, old post offices and even a restored, c.1900 ice-cream parlor, which still serves up banana splits.
As you enter from the Mall, directly onto the second floor, a display showcases the battered red, white and blue flag that inspired the US national anthem - the Star-Spangled Banner itself, which survived the British bombing of Baltimore harbor during the War of 1812. It's been under restoration for six years, a project slated for completion in 2002. Once restored, the relic will form the focus of a new display titled "For Which It Stands" and will presumably be shown in a manner conducive to its long-term preservation. The worthier exhibits are also on this floor: an account of the rural farm-based society of the early US stands across from an examination of the mass movement of African-Americans from Southern farms to the wartime industries of northern cities. A Woolworth lunch counter from Greensboro, North Carolina, evokes the sit-in of 1960. "American Encounters" focuses on New Mexico, looking at how tourism has affected communities such as the pueblo of Santa Clara and Hispanic Chimayo. On the first floor, the " Information Age " gallery traces communications from Morse's first telegraph to virtual reality tours of the Smithsonian. Separate galleries display in glorious profusion the artifacts and machines that have shaped modern America - from light bulbs and motorbikes to trains and atomic clocks. The top floor holds political memorabilia (much of it more than a century old), stamp and coin collections and old TV sets and typewriters. Two final outstanding exhibits inject a serious tone. " Personal Legacy: the Healing of a Nation " brings together some of the 25,000 items left by relatives at the Vietnam Memorial in DC. " A More Perfect Union " deals candidly with the shameful internment of Japanese-American citizens during World War II.
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