Culture & Knowledge

The museums, archives, libraries, and cultural institutions that gather, preserve, and share the nation's art, science, and memory.

PBS

The public television network of Sesame Street and the news, founded 1969

The American Museum of Natural History

New York's temple of dinosaurs, dioramas, and science, founded 1869

The Library of Congress

The national library that rose from ashes on Jefferson's shelves, 1800

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

America's grandest art museum, founded 1870

The Museum of Modern Art

The museum that made modern art respectable, founded 1929

The National Archives

The keeper of the Declaration, the Constitution, and the nation's records, 1934

The National Gallery of Art

The nation's art museum, a gift to the people, 1937

The National Geographic Society

The society that brought the world to America, founded 1888

The New York Public Library

The people's library guarded by two stone lions, founded 1895

The Presidential Libraries

The archive system FDR launched in 1939 to preserve the records of the modern presidency

The Smithsonian Institution

The national museum complex born from a mysterious English bequest, 1846