Anacostia Community Museum - Smithsonian’s community-based museum

The Anacostia Community Museum joined the Smithsonian Institution in 1967 as a neighborhood-based museum created to document and interpret the history and culture of Anacostia and other urban communities. It focuses on exhibitions, research, and public programs addressing topics such as race, migration, labor, and community resilience, and it conducts outreach and collecting in local communities. Its founding mission as a Smithsonian museum embedded in and serving a specific urban neighborhood distinguishes it among Smithsonian units.