Museum of History and Technology (U.S.)

The Museum of History and Technology was the original name of what is now the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. It opened to the public in January 1964 and was created to bring together major collections on American history, science, and technology in one national museum.

Over time, its mission broadened beyond technology to tell a wider story about the United States through politics, culture, work, transportation, military history, and daily life. In 1980, the museum was renamed the National Museum of American History, a change that reflected that larger scope.

Today, it is one of the Smithsonian Institution’s best-known museums, with collections and exhibitions that range from iconic national objects to the tools, inventions, and artifacts of ordinary American life. If this name appears as an “author,” it usually refers to the museum as a corporate or institutional creator rather than to an individual person.