The Smithsonian Institution has decided to put the National Museum of the American Latino into an existing, historic building, rather than constructing a new one.
The Smithsonian Board of Regents on Monday designated the Arts and Industries Building, a 145-year-old redbrick Victorian structure located between the Smithsonian Castle and the Hirshhorn Museum, as the permanent site of the National Museum of the American Latino, which Congress authorized in 2020.
In 2022, the Smithsonian narrowed its survey for permanent locations for the National Museum of the American Latino and the American Women’s History Museum to four locations near the National Mall on land owned by the National Park Service. The Arts and Industries Building, located at 900 Jefferson St. SW, was one of the four sites.
New construction on National Park Service land would require congressional approval. However, since the Smithsonian already owns the Arts and Industries Building, the institution can place the National Museum of the American Latino in the existing building without additional legislation.
Since 2022, the National Museum of the American Latino’s temporary exhibition space has been in the National Museum of American History.
Earlier this summer, the Trump administration released a report called “Saving America’s Story,” which was critical of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History’s “ideological capture,” saying it “erases our heritage.” The report said the institution’s beliefs “has moved the museum’s mission away from straightforward historical education and scholarship toward an extreme political activism that seeks to transform our country.”
It cited a National Museum of American History flagship exhibit, ‘¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States‘.
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