The Smithsonian Institution is not a single museum, but rather the world’s largest collection of museums (sixteen) and affiliate museums (129), housing 143 million objects and hosting 45 million visitors a year. The following Smithsonian sites are just a few of my favorites. Visit the museum’s front page or the Smithsonian Educational Gateway to find more.

National Museum of American History
The National Museum of American History was my favorite Smithsonian when the kids and I visited Washington D.C. a few years ago. Its online counterpart not only lives up to my high expectations, but exceeds them. History Wired uses a rather unique Java interface to showcase some of the curators’s favorite objects. The museum houses more than three million artifacts, so choosing a handful of favorites is no small task. For more fun, click on over to any of thirty-two virtual exhibits on topics as diverse as the history of tools used to teach math, Julia Child’s kitchen, and the 1950’s paint-by-numbers craze.

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