And folks came
Bringing history with them
Bringing treasures
Trusting us with family bibles
Long-held stories
Living history
Acquisition and Collections Care
Our curators and conservators have the awesome responsibility of preserving treasures of the past while capturing the new and the now. We meticulously collect, conserve, interpret, and explore — expanding the world’s knowledge and launching new lines of inquiry. As we grow the Museum’s collections it is our duty to care for them at the highest professional standards.
The Living History campaign will provide resources to collect more of the African American narrative and share our content with learners of all ages through enriched exhibitions, programs, and educational resources.
Select Programs and Initiatives
Art Fund
We seek to transform the way the world thinks about art created by Americans of African descent — from “African American” or “Black” art to simply “American” art.
With your help, we aspire to amass the most comprehensive collection of art by Americans of African descent in the world. We will partner with institutions around the globe to create traveling and online exhibitions and publications that highlight NMAAHC’s art collection and offer new methods of interpretation and understanding.
Conservation Lab
We are the guardians of history, and we take that job seriously. NMAAHC’s more than 41,000-item collection represents a people’s journey and helps tell a more complete — and still evolving — story of America.
The first step to making our collection accessible is ensuring the objects are properly conserved and stored. With great care and using industry-leading science, we bring older objects back to life and preserve today’s unique treasures for tomorrow. With the resources from the Living History campaign, we can increase our capacity to care for these precious items, help train the next generation of conservators, and ensure this vital work can continue.
Johnson Publications Collection
From World War II through the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and the culture boom of the 1980s and 1990s, Johnson Publications documented American life through the eyes of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Maya Angelou, Shirley Chisholm, and scores of other Black activists, advocates, artists, athletes, entertainers, poets, politicians, students, writers, and everyday people. Your investment will enable the Museum to organize, digitize, and provide global access to the most significant collection of images that illustrate African American life in the 20th century, including 3.35 million negatives and slides, 983,000 photographs, 166,000 contact sheets, and 9,000 audio and visual recordings.