Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: American Railroads in the 20th Century
A brief history of the last century and more of American railroads, from the early locomotives from the mid 1800s to today's fast passenger trains.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: American Racing: A Diversity of Innovation
American auto racing has a century long history of grass roots invention. From an American-European rivalry to uniquely American forms of racing, the history of racing includes business interests, enthusiastic fans, and alternative...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: City and Suburb: Chicago and Park Forest, Illinois 1950s
Exhibition highlights the differences between city and suburbia living. Visit Park Forest, Illinois, a new suburb of Chicago, where every day is moving day. A station wagon and moving boxes sit in front of a new house and the new kids on...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Collection: Transportation
The Museum's online transportation collection includes more than 1500 artifacts and photographs. Browse the collection by selecting multiple categories, eras, regions, etc.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Community Dreams: Santa Cruz, California 1876
Discover how connecting Santa Cruz, California to the national railroad network in the late 1800s helped the town prosper and change.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Crossing the Country: Somewhere in Wyoming 1903
Come along on the first successful cross-country automobile trip with H. Nelson Jackson, Sewall Crocker, and their dog Bud as they traveled in 1903 from California to New York in 63 days.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Cta Car 6719 From Scrap to History
Follow the story of Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) rapid-transit car 6719 from the day it was delivered to the transit agency in 1959 to the day it was placed in the Smithsonian's new transportation exhibition, America on the Move in 2003.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Delivering the Goods: Watsonville. California 1895
Railroads changed agriculture. As railways linked farms to a wider commercial world, city dwellers could buy fruits and vegetables year-round. Farms became commercialized, often specializing in single crops and tied to the ups and downs...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Family Camping: York Beach, Maine
The Cate family is on vacation at Decatur Motor Camp, York Beach, on the southern coast of Maine. It's late afternoon and the Cates are settling down after their day. Mrs. Cate and her daughter are preparing dinner in the trailer; Mr....
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Making Sense of "Failed" Car Technology
America on the Move explores the role of transportation in American History highlighting its role as a vital part of our business, social, and cultural history. Learn about the auto industry's experiments, dead-ends, and temporary...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Learning Resources
This activity guide accompanies the exhibition America on the Move and provides documents and activities that students can use to build a deeper understanding of how transportation shaped American commerce, communities, landscapes, and...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Lives on the Railroad: Salisbury, North Carolina 1927
Replica of the Salisbury, North Carolina railway station teaches about riding and working on the railroad in the 1920s when railroads were a central part of American life. Railroad lines crisscrossed the country. They carried people,...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Marine Patent Models
View the Smithsonian's collection of patent models that demonstrate marine inventions from the 1770s to the 1950s that attempted to change and improve the challenges Americans encountered working and traveling on the water.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: On the Interstate: I 10: 1956 1990
Explore the ways that the interstates changed commerce, travel, and where we live. The interstates have profoundly changed American landscapes and lives, and the way business is conducted. I-10 sweeps almost 2,500 miles across the...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Roadside Communities: Ring's Rest, Muirkirk, Maryland
The exhibition explores historical moments in the area of transportation. As more people took to the road, clusters of roadside businesses sprang up to accommodate motorists' needs including roadside cabins. Ring's Rest, located about 20...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Smithsonian Automobile Collection
See the wide range of gas-powered vehicles manufactured in America in the late 19th century. Click on each picture to read a detailed description of the vehicle, how it worked, and the history of its manufacture. From the Smithsonian...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Suburban Strip: Sandy Boulevard, Portland, Oregon 1949
Exhibition focusses on the relationship between transportation and suburbia in the mid 1920s until after World War II when many grocery stores, car dealerships, and other businesses moved out of the city to the suburban strip.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Tending Aids to Navigation
Who maintains our maritime infrastructure? Step back to the 1920s and meet some of the men and boats of the U.S. Lighthouse Service while learning about the hundreds of aids to navigation in New York Harbor.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: The Connected City: New York, New York 1920s
Exhibition highlights New York's harbor, with stories of the city as a hub of immigration, manufacturing, and culture.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: The People's Highway: Route 66: 1930s 1940s
This section of the America on the Move exhibition explores the substance behind the myth of Route 66, telling the stories of real people who made their living on or beside the road and who traveled on the fabled highway.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: A Nation of Immigrants: Latino Stories
While in the year 2000 Latinos were the largest ethnic minority in the United States, their experiences are by no means the same. Explore stories of Latino immigration and migration and see some of the complexities of immigration.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Chicago, the Transit Metropolis
Explore the role of public transportation in Chicago, from the 1890s through the 1950s.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Transportation History Videos
Three short videos from the America on the Move exhibition provide an overview of American transportation history. Click on the icons to see the videos, or just read the scripts.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: The Hall of Arctic People
This is the online version of the Smithsonian Institute's exhibit devoted to the people of the Siberian and North American Arctic. The mannequins around the walls represent the peoples of the Crossroads region, dressed in traditional...