Smithsonian Institution

It seems like people are always confused about which museums and entities in the DC area are run by the Smithsonian Institution and which ones aren’t. So I created this handy list. Please note that this list is DC centric and intentionally doesn’t include the Smithsonian museums and entities located in NYC and elsewhere.

Feel free to discuss your favorites and add any other non-Smithsonian museums and entities that people often mistakenly think are Smithsonian but actually aren’t affiliated.

Smithsonian Museums:

1. National Museum of African American History and Culture

2. National Museum of African Art

3. National Air and Space Museum

4. National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

5. Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery

6. Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum

7. National Museum of American History

8. National Museum of the American Indian

9. Anacostia Community Museum

10. National Museum of Asian Art (Freer and Sackler Galleries)

11. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

12. National Zoo

13. National Museum of Natural History

14. National Postal Museum

Buildings with Exhibit Spaces (have rotating temporary exhibits but aren’t specifically dedicated to one topic):

1. S. Dillon Ripley Center

2. Smithsonian Castle

3. Arts and Industries Building

Archives and Research Centers:

1. Archives of American Art

2. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

3. Asian Pacific American Center

4. Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (in Maryland)

Non-Smithsonian Museums (not an exhaustive list, just a few that people in my life have asked about):

1. National Gallery of Art

2. United States Botanic Garden

3. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

4. National Building Museum

5. National Museum of Women in the Arts