Interior Museum

While our look has changed throughout the decades, we continue to preserve and share the Department of the Interior’s history. On this 88th anniversary of the @InteriorMuseum, we thank you for being part of our journey! 🎉 . . . 📷Images by row from the top left: creating a scale model for planning the museum in the 1930s; 1940s displays; museum administrator Theodore Drummond in 1951; 1980s; 1990s; 2007; 2009, 2017; 2020

Wishing our colleagues at @USGS a 147th birthday for the ages!

❄️❄️ Due to remaining effects from the winter storm, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management has extended the closure of Federal offices in the Washington, DC, area. As a result, the @InteriorMuseum is not open today (Tuesday, January 27, 2026). ❄️❄️ opm.gov/policy-data-ov…

❄️❄️ Due to the winter storm, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management has closed Federal offices in the Washington, DC, area. As a result, the @InteriorMuseum is not open today (Monday, January 26, 2026). We encourage you to browse our website at doi.gov/interiormuseum to view virtually our online collections and exhibition portals.❄️❄️ opm.gov/policy-data-ov…

As 2025 draws to a close, we're taking one last look at some of the year's highlights at the Interior Museum: 📷 New to our museum collection is one of the original RCA microphones from the historic north penthouse of the Department of the Interior's headquarters building. From 1938 to 1945, that space served as the nation's first radio recording studio in a Federal office building. 📷 "Mindfulness with Moran: Chasm of the Colorado" was released as a companion piece to our earlier video, "Mindfulness with Moran: Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone," to complement our "Thomas Moran and the 'Big Picture'" exhibition. Give them both a listen on the museum's YouTube channel. (youtube.com/watch?v=bLRbVt…) 📷 "A Gift to All: Artists in Residence at Interior" took guests on a visual journey through the wonders of public lands as interpreted by more than 20 different artists nationwide. (doi.gov/interiormuseum…) 📷 The Bureau of Land Management's Seymour Antelope and the National Park Trust's Buddy Bison welcomed children to the museum on Bring a Kid to Work Day. 📷 Visitors got to dive into art inspired by the Interior's connections to the sea with our "Exploring the Depths" exhibition. (doi.gov/interiormuseum…) 📷The Bureau of Reclamation's Otto Otter celebrated his 50th anniversary with a special visit and display at the museum. (usbr.gov/newsroom/news-…) We look forward to making new memories in 2026 and hope to see you soon! Happy New Year!

Wishing you and yours all the joys of the holiday season! The museum reopens on Monday, December 29, and we look forward to seeing you then! 🎨 "Symbols of Freedom: Season of Lights III" by Thomas Kinkade, Collection of the Interior Museum, OSAC 02641. This signed, limited edition print was presented to Department of the Interior Secretary Gale Norton in 2004. It depicts the National Christmas Tree in President's Park, managed by the National Park Service.

We couldn't be more pleased to help in commemorating Otto Otter's continuing legacy. Stop by the @InteriorMuseum to see and learn more about the @usbr's iconic face of water safety! 🦦 🛟 x.com/usbr/status/20…

Due to the federal government shutdown, this account is not being actively updated. For more information, please visit: doi.gov/shutdown Please note that the Interior Museum is closed for the duration of the shutdown, and there will be no access, building/murals tours, or tour reservations taken.

Did you know? 🎣Since 1972, today (the 4th Saturday in September) is National Hunting and Fishing Day. It's an annual celebration of the nationwide impact that anglers and hunters have made on wildlife conservation efforts and outdoor recreation. 🎨 "Sunfish," by Charley Harper (1922-2007), serigraph, 1952. Collection of the U.S. Department of the Interior Museum, OSAC 07394. This illustration accompanied the article, "“Eight Familiar Fish” in the March 1952 issue of the Ford Times, a lifestyle magazine in which Harper's artwork appeared extensively.

🍂Happy autumn, and happy National Public Lands Day!

September is Color Blind Awareness Month. If you’re among > 350 million people with color vision deficiency (CVD), the image on the right is how our famous 1874 painting “Chasm of the Colorado” by Thomas Moran may look to you. But did you know you can freely borrow EnChroma-enhanced eyewear during your next Interior Museum visit?

☀️With the final hours of summer upon us, we're providing one more "beach vibes" image to carry us into autumn. 🍂 William Henry Traher's 1970 acrylic painting "Pacific Slopes" incorporates several composite views of the California coastline, from Morrow Bay to the Oregon border—including Black Sands Beach on the Lost Coast within the King Range National Conservation Area—with the Sierra Nevada range in the background. This painting was one in a series of four commissioned by the National Park Service in the 1960s for the visitor center at the Gateway Arch to represent different geographic regions in the American West. (INTR 03786)

Behold the "Beach Beast" for National Beach Day! This piece in our collection was crafted by woodworker Andrew Willner in 1974 and inspired by the action of the sea at @CapeCodNPS in Massachusetts (OSAC 00016). The fanciful carving in mahogany combines features of sea creatures--real and imagined--with curves reminiscent of the outer Cape's sand dunes and waves.

🏖️ Channel this scene from our collection for National Beach Day! Maurice Silber's painting captures the soothing beauty of @FireIslandNPS, located on a 26-mile section of barrier island off Long Island. Established in 1964, it's one of 10 national seashores in the United States. (OSAC 07252)

🐶 National Dog Day means we get to share this cool piece from our collection (INTR 07919)!🐾This handmade leather harness is from the mid 1980s and once graced a sled dog named Bambi who participated in backcountry patrol runs at Alaska's Denali National Park and Preserve. This equipment transferred from the park is now a museum object representing both the legacy of Denali's historic kennels and a fascinating aspect of the park's workforce. Denali is the only national park with a kennel of sled dogs, and--with operations dating back to 2022--it is also among the oldest sled dog kennels in the country.

For Women's Equality Day, we're sharing this "Jailed for Freedom" pin from our museum's collection (INTR 07774). The design was re-issued in 2020 to commemorate the centennial of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women in the United States the right to vote. The National Women's Party originally presented such pins to suffragists who had been arrested during vigils.

My, how time flies . . . we remember when you weren't a day over 100! 🎉Happy 109th birthday to the @natlparkservice! #NPSBirthday 📷: Junior Ranger badge issued for the National Park Service centennial in 2016. Collection of the U.S. Department of the Interior Museum, INTR 07407

It's hard to believe that we're already in the final week of this summer's Blue Star Museums program! While the 2025 initiative concludes on Labor Day, know that the @InteriorMuseum continues to welcome active-duty military personnel and their families the whole year through! Plan your visit to a #BlueStarMuseum participant today at ow.ly/6Rhb50WKxyB

Happy National Hydropower Day, and here's looking at you, @usbr! To celebrate, here's a circa 1945-50, large-format, hand-tinted photograph from our collection depicting Washington's Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River (OSAC 07540). Upon its dedication in 1941, this gravity-arch dam was the world's largest concrete structure and heralded by Interior's Secretary Ickes as the "greatest single structure man has built." While its primary function during World War II was to generate vital electricity for manufacturers in the Pacific Northwest, subsequent roles have included flood control, water storage, irrigation, and recreation. Today, Grand Coulee Dam is the largest hydropower producer in the U.S.

It's National Intern Day, and we're pleased to spotlight our current @InteriorMuseum intern! Julianne just earned her Master's degree in museum studies. She has been working on a variety of collections care projects, including rehousing artifacts, integrated pest management, environmental monitoring, inventory, and artwork installations. We're happy to have Julianne on the team!