President Warren Harding wore blue silk pajamas. Muhammad Ali wore boxing gloves. Betsy Ross sewed the Star Spangled Banner. The show is called MAS*H.
The National Museum of American History is part of the biggest museum complex in the world and contains nearly two million artifacts.
Climate change has made the Smithsonian stand out, because of the fact that some of its cherished buildings are vulnerable to flooding.
The National Mall is a two-mile park lined with elms that stretches from the Lincoln Memorial to the U.S. Capitol.
The land was once marsh. The buildings face two threats as the planet warms. Scientists say that rising seas will eventually push in water from the tidal Potomac River and submerge parts of the Mall. The museums have priceless holdings that are stored in the basement and are at risk of being damaged by heavy rainstorms.
The American History museum has water in it.
The floor in the basement is gurgling. It finds the gaps between the ground-level windows. It sneaks into the ductwork and then wanders the building. It creeps through the ceiling in the locked rooms.
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The 12th Street tunnel in Washington was flooded on June 26, 2006 after a storm dropped more than seven inches of rain.
There are flood barriers lined up outside windows. The sensors that look like electronic mouse traps are deployed throughout the building. The bins were filled with cat litter and were rushed back and forth to soak up the water.
The museum's holdings have not been damaged. The facilities manager at the Smithsonian said that they are in trial and error. It is about managing water.
An assessment of the Smithsonian's vulnerabilities, released last month, reveals the scale of the challenge: Not only are artifacts stored in basements in danger, but floods could knock out electrical and ventilation systems in the basement that keep the humidity at the right level to protect priceless art, textiles, documents
The National Museum of Natural History is the second most vulnerable facility, after American History.
If global temperatures rise by 1.5 degrees Celsius, some land around the two museums will be underwater at high tide. The planet has warmed by 1.1 degrees and is on track to rise 3 degrees by the end of the century.
The American History museum, the Natural History museum and the American Indian museum are all exposed to a 100 year flood, which has a 1 percent chance of happening in any given year.
There is a minimal risk of flooding in museums.
African American.
There is a history museum.
There is a minimal risk of flooding in museums.
Museums are at risk of flooding.
There are areas at risk of flooding.
African American.
There is a history museum.
There is a minimal risk of flooding in museums.
There is a minimal risk of flooding in museums.
African American.
There is a history museum.
There is a minimal risk of flooding in museums.
Museums are at risk of flooding.
There are areas at risk of flooding.
African American.
There is a history museum.
The areas at risk have a 100 year flood zone in 2020.
First Street Foundation and Open Data D.C. are sources.
By Taylor.
Some of the collections from the museum could be moved to a proposed site in suburban Maryland. The changes would take years to implement because Congress has yet to fund many of them.
Until then, the Smithsonian struggles with this fact: an institution that is beloved by the public, well funded and staffed by top experts is protecting the nation's treasures with garbage cans.
Nancy Bechtol is the head of facilities for the Smithsonian. We watch the weather forecasts to know if we have one coming.
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Nancy Bechtol is the director of facilities at the National Museum of American History. It is not so much that our annual precipitation is higher. She said it was the intensity of the individual storms.
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The American History museum has an exterior. The land on which this museum sits is predicted to eventually be submerged by the rising seas, while heavy rains threaten the museums' collections more immediately.
A group of employees gathered in the entrance hall of the American History museum to point out where the water comes from.
A wooden cotton planter was featured in the hall. The first female professional skateboarder is riding a Super Surfer skateboard. Steve Cropper played the cream-colored fender for Otis Redding when he recorded "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay".
Ms. Bechtol said that where we are could flood.
She is worried about a big storm like the one that hit Houston or the one that hit New York this summer.
Mark Proctor is the building manager.
The steam locomotive Southern Railway 1401 was built in the 1920s. The garden on the east side of the building is visible from the window of the train. The garden was flooded in March. The water pooled around the steel wheels.
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The museum's basement was flooded during a storm in March. Mark Proctor, the building manager, checked the area.
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There is a train on display. During a heavy storm in March, water seeped into the museum and pooled on the floor around the train.
The water had to be wet-vaced. Staff pushed flood barriers against the windows to keep the water out.
The life-support system of the building is formed by electrical and heating and cooling equipment in a room in the basement. The air would become hot and humid if it wasn't there.
Mr. Proctor gestured towards the wall. The March storm brought water into the building. One of the building's two emergency generators was nearby, which Mr. Proctor hopes to move to the fifth floor.
If the generator is in the water, it won't work.
Robert Horton stopped at a locked door. Mr. Horton is an assistant director. His favorite item at American History is a homemade artificial leg made by a coal miner.
Mr. Horton entered a small room with a low ceiling, packed with cabinets that held exquisite pieces of porcelain. He said the invention of porcelain was all the way back.
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A plastic sheet and garbage can are in place for the next leak in the basement of the American History museum.
The basement was not designed to hold collections when the building was opened. The museum's holdings grew as it grew.
Mr. Horton went to the corner of the room where the water had come through the ceiling. There was still water in the picture.
There was plastic draped on top of the cabinet to direct the leaks into the garbage can. The dark squares of fabric were designed to absorb the water that the garbage can missed. Mr. Horton said that they left a lot of the protective material in place because they were afraid that it would happen again.
Mr. Horton said that the boxes made of treated paper board were designed to repel water. The papers of Lenora Slaughter, who ran the Miss America pageant from 1941 to 1967, and Vaudeville script were among the items found in the basement.
The New York Times obituary of Father Charles Coughlin described his radio sermons and weekly magazine as anti-Semitic.
The lowest of the boxes was barely off the floor.
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There are figurines in basement storage.
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The Vaudeville script is in a basement collection room.
Three feet of water was left on Constitution Avenue in 2006 after a storm. Cars were pushed from the street onto the lawn of the museum.
The $400 million pump station was proposed as a way to better protect the Mall.
The National Park Service, the Army Corps of Engineers, the District of Columbia's water utility, and the National Capital Planning Commission are all involved in controlling flooding on the Mall.
There is a need to figure out who should lead the charge.
The American History museum and the National Gallery of Art are both owned by the Smithsonian, which has repeatedly requested money from the government to start work on a storage site for them.
The new storage facility is being funded by $6 million from a larger pot of money earmarked for planning and design. The construction was supposed to be done by 2020 but has yet to start.
The American History museum is going to get a $39 million plan for flood walls and other changes. Linda St. Thomas said that the project is in early planning stages.
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The National Archives Building was flooded in 2006
The other museums are ahead of them. The National Air and Space Museum will install flood gates as part of a multiyear renovation. The National Museum of African American History and Culture was built with three massive pumps to keep its lower levels from filling with ground water.
The American History museum's holdings await a solution.
Ms. Bechtol said she didn't want to rush, noting that relocating collections required not only planning and building a new facility but carefully handling each item. We can only do so much and do it well.
Even though it wasn't raining, the tour continued through a second mechanical room, where the water bubbled up through the lowest point of the floor. The Tiber Creek was filled in during the 1800s and is now the location of the history museum.
The group walked into a cafeteria that had floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out on a garden at the foot of a sculpture. The museum is below the street level. The garden forms a giant bowl that fills with water when it rains.
Ms. Bechtol wants to build a wall around the garden to keep water out. It is like a swimming pool.
The museum built atop a marsh won't go away with the tension between protecting the collection and keeping it accessible to the public. The best kind of museum for us is a closed box with no windows or doors. It doesn't work well when you're trying to get visitors.
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The National Museum of American History has a cafeteria that is below street level. Mark Proctor, the building manager, checked the water barriers at the entrance.
