Washington DC – National Museum of American History: Bon Appétit! Julia Child’s Kitchen at the Smithsonian

Image by wallyg
When Julia Child moved back to her home state of California in 2001, she donated the kitchen from her Cambridge, Massachusetts, home to the Museum. Bon Appétit! Julia Child’s Kitchen at the Smithsonian, an ongoing exhibitio, features the actual kitchen, including the cabinets, appliances, cookbooks, kitchen table, and hundreds of utensils and gadgets. The exhibition gives visitors a peek into the working kitchen of one of the world’s best-known cooks, and explores how her influence as an author and host of several television series changed the way America cooks.

The National Museum of American History (NMAH), administered by the Smithsonian Institute, collects, preserves and displays American heritage in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific and military history. The museum, which first opened in 1964 as the Museum of History and Technology, is located on the National Mall in one of the last structures designed by McKim, Mead & White. It was renamed in 1980, and closed for a 2-year, million renovation by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP from 2006 to 2008.

The Smithsonian Institution, an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazines, was established in 1846. Although concentrated in Washington DC, its collection of over 136 million items is spread through 19 museums, a zoo, and nine research centers from New York to Panama.