Interior Museum, Federal museum in Downtown Washington D.C., United States.
The Interior Museum is a federal museum in Washington, D.C., housed inside the Stewart Lee Udall Building, the main headquarters of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Its galleries cover topics such as land management, conservation, and Native American cultures through objects, documents, and artwork.
The museum opened in 1938, not long after the building was completed as part of President Roosevelt's New Deal program. Over the following decades, its collection grew to reflect the changing role of the department in managing the country's natural resources and territories.
The museum sits inside an active federal building where government workers pass through daily, giving the visit an unusually grounded feeling. The galleries show objects, photographs, and artwork tied to Native American communities and public lands across the country.
The museum is free to enter and open on weekdays, but visitors must show a photo ID to access the federal building. The main entrance is on C Street, so it helps to know that before arriving.
The corridors of the Stewart Lee Udall Building are lined with murals painted in the 1930s by artists funded through federal programs of that era. These paintings, showing landscapes, indigenous peoples, and natural resources, are part of the museum experience and can be seen along the hallways.
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