Related Museums and Associations: Foundations of Public Service
Civic Architecture & Public Works:
The Waterworks Museum Boston
The Waterworks Museum is a nonprofit educational organization that provides the opportunity for interdisciplinary teaching across the fields of architecture, engineering and history. It consists of the Great Engines Hall, housing three historic, steam-powered pumping engines, and a two story glass-enclosed pavilion, featuring an Overlook Gallery.
Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies
The Robert H. Smith ICJS is a multidisciplinary research center that oversees the work of several departments at Monticello and supports the ongoing international study of Thomas Jefferson and his world. The mission of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies (ICJS) is to foster Thomas Jefferson scholarship and disseminate findings through research and education.
Shreveport Water Works Museum
The McNeill Street Pumping Station of Louisiana is located near downtown Shreveport on the banks of Cross Bayou, and is Shreveport’s original waterworks. It is directed by McNeill Street Pumping Station Preservation Society, a non-profit corporation formed in 1999 for the purpose of promoting and assisting in the preservation and restoration of the plant through conversion of appropriate portions of the plant into a technological and cultural museum.
Boulder City Hoover Dam Museum
The Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum tells the story of the Boulder Canyon Project as it was experienced by the men and women who braved the desolation of the Southern Nevada desert to build Hoover Dam and Boulder City. The purpose of collection activities for the Boulder City Museum and Historical Association is to (1) acquire, research, and preserve materials concerning the history and development of Boulder City, Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, and the Lower Colorado River region; as well as materials representing the historical period 1920 - 1945; (2) to make such materials available for study; and, (3) create themed exhibits of community interest.
Public Service as a Profession:
Postal Service:
National Postal Museum
The Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum is dedicated to the preservation, study and presentation of postal history and philately. The Museum was created by an agreement between the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Postal Service in 1990 and opened to the public in 1993. The National Postal Museum gratefully acknowledges the continued support and commitment of the United States Postal Service, and uses exhibits, educational public programs and research to make this rich history available to scholars, philatelists, collectors and visitors from around the world
The Museum of Postal History
The Museum of Postal History, Inc is a non-profit historical and educational repository and museum whose mission is to educate the public about the development of America, its technology and its culture through the influences of the US Mail. Its staff seeks to utilize its exhibits and artifacts to educate the public as we continue to develop programming that will engage learners of all ages.
Spellman Museum of Stamps and Postal History
The Spellman Museum is a center of learning and activities for people of all ages. It will preserve, enhance and expand its collections, library and facilities as a philatelic trust for the education and entertainment of the general public; to promote the hobby of stamp collecting and to be a resource for historians.
Libraries:
Collectors Club Library (New York)
The Collectors Club maintains a library of approximately 150,000 volumes for the free use of the public. Visitors can research or browse through thousands of philatelic publications, comprehensive groups of historical periodicals and extensive runs of priced auction catalogues. Scholars and historians have free access and use of the library and are referred to the library by the New York Public Library, educational institutions and philatelic groups throughout the world.
Postal History Foundation
The mission of the Postal History Foundation is to promote an appreciation of stamp collecting and postal history through the preservation of philatelic and postal history collections, literature and documents, and the enhancement of youth education using stamps as teaching tools.
Post Office Records at the National Archives
Post office records may deliver interesting information to the genealogical researcher seeking more information about an ancestor or an ancestor's community. Microfilmed records include postmaster appointment records and records showing the location of post offices.
Elected Public Servants:
“The Life and Times of Congressman Robert Smalls”
This is a multifaceted traveling exhibition that includes visual displays, three-dimensional artifacts, pictures and other memorabilia of Robert Smalls, his life and his family. Robert Smalls was the first African-American hero of the Civil War. He was later appointed to the rank of Major General in the South Carolina Militia during the Reconstruction period. From 1869 to 1889, he served in both houses of the South Carolina Legislature and was elected to five terms in the United States Congress. His most important legislation during his five terms in Congress was a bill that led to the creation of Parris Island Marine Base in South Carolina.
The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden
This exhibition explores the personal, public, ceremonial and executive actions of the 43 men who have had a huge impact on the course of history in the past 200 years. More than 900 objects, including national treasures from the Smithsonian’s vast presidential collections, bring to life the role of the presidency in American culture.
Timelines of Public Service:
National Museum of American History
The Museum hosts a full roster of public programs, from demonstrations, lectures and tours to storytelling and festivals. Music programs offer performances by chamber music ensembles, a jazz orchestra, gospel choirs, folk and blues artists, Native American singers, dancers, and more. The brand new Nina and Ivan Selin Welcome Center allows for expanded visitor information services with increased one-on-one contact.
Museum of the City of New York
The Museum of the City of New York celebrates and interprets the city, educating the public about its distinctive character, especially its heritage of diversity, opportunity, and perpetual transformation. Founded in 1923 as a private, nonprofit corporation, the Museum connects the past, present, and future of New York City. It serves the people of New York and visitors from around the world through exhibitions, school and public programs, publications, and collections.
America’s Mayor: John V. Lindsay and the Reinvention of New York
Three decades before Rudolph Giuliani was dubbed “America’s Mayor,” John V. Lindsay was, for a time, the urban leader to whom the whole nation looked. Young, energetic, and idealistic, he campaigned on a platform of change and optimism. Lindsay’s agenda included many of the signature liberal policies of the day—support for civil rights, the war on poverty, mobilization of the power of government to build a better society. Even more, he envisioned a new kind of city life, asserting that the American future depended on sustaining urban ideals of diversity, density, and creativity.
150th Commemoration of the Civil War
The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery took part in the commemorations for the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and the presidency of Abraham Lincoln with a series of seven related exhibitions. The exhibitions complemented the installation of Civil War portraits and related objects that are on display in the museum’s “American Origins,” exhibition which charts the nation's story from pre-colonial days through the end of the nineteenth century.