The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History has opened a new exhibit, From these Lands, featuring 600 specimens and objects showcasing the nation’s rich natural and cultural history.
At the center of one display is a large American lobster caught last year by a Vinalhaven fisherman. Upon discovering the museum collection lacked a suitable lobster for display, a staffer with ties to lobstering donated the specimen, along with four others for its permanent collection.
The exhibition will be on view through 2029, illuminating the many connections between people, places, and the natural world that can help visitors understand the nation’s past, interpret the present, and plan for the future.
Items on display include a brilliant blue gemstone from California rarer than gold and a Northern bobwhite collected by a young Theodore Roosevelt in New York. The show highlights science in action, from feather fragments used to identify bird species involved in airplane strikes to the story of efforts to reintroduce sea otters to the Oregon coast. It will also explore the enduring ties between people and place, from the fishing practices of the Pamunkey Indian Tribe and African American oyster harvesting communities on the Chesapeake Bay to the artistry and stewardship behind traditional Samoan bark cloth.
A state symbols interactive will allow visitors to design and send digital postcards with photographs of official state flowers, birds, rocks, fossils, and more.
