Facts About the Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is a museum, education and research complex of 21 museums and the National Zoological Park, as well as research facilities.

Admission to all Smithsonian museums in Washington is free.

• AnacostiaCommunity Museum
• Arts and Industries Building  
• Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (New York City)
• HirshhornMuseum and SculptureGarden
• National Air and SpaceMuseum
• National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (Chantilly, Virginia)
• National Museum of African American History and Culture
• NationalMuseum of African Art
• NationalMuseum of American History
• National Museum of Asian Art (Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and the Freer Gallery of Art)
• National Museum of the American Indian
• National Museum of the American Indian’s George Gustav Heye Center (New York City)
• National Museum of the American Latino*  
• National Museum of Natural History
• National Portrait Gallery        
• National Postal Museum
• Renwick Gallery
• Smithsonian American Art Museum
• Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum*
• SmithsonianInstitutionBuilding (“Castle”)

*New Museums—These museums have not yet been built. Congress passed legislation in late December 2020 establishing two new museums at the Smithsonian: the National Museum of the American Latino and the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum. The Smithsonian is in the early planning stages for both.

Budget—The Smithsonian’s federal appropriation for fiscal year 2023 (Oct. 1, 2023–Sept. 30, 2024) is more than $1 billion. The Institution is about 62% federally funded (a combination of the congressional appropriation and federal grants and contracts). In addition, the Smithsonian has trust funds or non-federal funds, which include contributions from private sources (endowments; donations from individuals, corporations and foundations; and memberships) and revenues from the Smithsonian Enterprises operation (magazines, mail-order catalog, product development, entertainment, shops, restaurants and concessions).

Smithsonian Collections—The total number of objects, works of art and specimens at the Smithsonian is estimated at nearly 157 million, of which nearly 148 million are scientific specimens at the National Museum of Natural History.

Smithsonian Affiliations—Through this ambitious program of long-term loans of collections of artifacts and the expertise of its staff, the Smithsonian shares its vast collection and programmatic resources with museums and educational institutions around the country. There are more than 200 affiliates in nearly every state, Puerto Rico and Panama. For more information, visit www.affiliations.si.edu.

Traveling Exhibitions—The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) organizes exhibitions on art, history and science and circulates them around the country. Each year, SITES travels more than 40 exhibitions to hundreds of U.S. cities and towns in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, where they are viewed by millions of people.

Research Facilities—These include the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Museum Conservation Institute, Smithsonian Libraries and Archives, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Marine Station at Fort Pierce, Florida.

Digital—The Smithsonian home page, www.si.edu, offers a wide range of information, from planning a visit to exploring the collections online. Also, the Smithsonian had 168 million unique visitors to its website in 2022, and has more than 30 mobile apps, digital magazines and more than 17 million images and records on the Collections Search Center site. Across its most frequently used social-media platforms, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, the Smithsonian had more than 20 million followers and 112 million YouTube views in 2022.

History—Established with funds from James Smithson (1765–1829), a British scientist who left his estate to the United States to found “at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.”

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