A Smithsonian magazine special report
The National Archives Museum Is Using A.I. to Take Visitors on an Immersive Journey Through American History
Called “The American Story,” the new permanent exhibition will guide museumgoers through two million historic documents and artifacts
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Starting later this year, visitors to the National Archives Museum in Washington, D.C. will be able to chart their own course through America’s past with a new choose-your-own-adventure-style exhibition.
Called “The American Story,” the immersive journey will use artificial intelligence to put visitors in the driver’s seat as they explore the records held in the National Archives. The new permanent exhibition is slated to open in October, upon the completion of a $40 million renovation.
At the start of the experience, visitors will be able to scan a QR code and select three subjects that interest them, reports USA Today’s Karissa Waddick. Then, as they meander through the 10,000-square-foot galleries, A.I. will display documents related to the topics they choose and add them to a virtual folder. When visitors leave the museum, they’ll be able to share their personalized collection with the world.
Spread across several galleries, the exhibition will feature digital display cases and media stations. Some will be equipped with glass that displays touchable, moveable animations overlaying the documents housed inside.
The exhibition will also feature immersive “mediascapes,” which will showcase music, oral histories, photos and videos. Museumgoers will be able to imagine themselves as historical figures, making decisions with the help of archival texts, according to USA Today. They’ll also learn how the collection was used to inform popular movies and books.
Artifacts on view include photographs by Ansel Adams, a patent for the light bulb and a set of horseshoes that Elizabeth II gave to President George H. W. Bush in 1992. Curators are also developing a Discovery Center tailored to K-12 students and teachers.
The new exhibition will focus on two million of the more than 13 billion records housed at the National Archives, which aren’t always “exciting visually for people,” says Franck Cordes, the capital campaign project director at the National Archives Foundation, to USA Today. With the exhibition’s interactive design, curators hope to make the documents more engaging and intriguing.
“These records are the evidence of who we are as a nation,” Cordes adds. “Everybody has an entry point to that.”
The National Archives has long been working to make its vast library more accessible, including through projects to digitize its records. For example, volunteers with its Citizen Archivist program help transcribe centuries-old handwritten documents.
In the meantime, the National Archives Museum is highlighting the people and moments that shaped American history with an exhibition titled “Opening the Vault.” Launched ahead of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence next year, the show will feature a rotating selection of artifacts.
The first rotation, on display now through August 6, focuses on George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. Visitors can see handwritten documents, such as Washington’s Oath of Allegiance to the United States and the account book he used to keep track of expenses while leading the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Also on display are Franklin’s postal ledger and a table of postal rates from 1775.
