I visited the DC History Center last weekend, when - because of the ongoing government shutdown - the museum I wanted to visit was closed. I had read about it in a "So the thing you want to do in DC is closed..." article, and I was thrilled to learn about it (I wondered why I hadn't heard of it before)!
First thing that stuck out to me? The center is in an amazing historic building! The Carnegie Library was built in 1903 and served as a public library for DC until it was closed in 1972. It was the first of the city's four Carnegie libraries and the first desegregated public building. The classic architecture is pretty stunning.
However, the building hasn't been a library since 1972. And now, most of it is ... an Apple Store?! The main level of the building has been an Apple Store since 2019. The Apple symbol is even in the marble in the exterior of the building.
When I walked in, I was really thrown off. I looked around for signs and it seemed like the DC History Center might be upstairs, so up I went. When I got upstairs, I was greeted by a staff member, who explained there were two galleries upstairs and one in the basement.
One of the galleries is the DC Hall of History. It's basically a long, narrow room with a timeline explaining DC's history. No artifacts, just a timeline on a wall. A little underwhelming.
The larger gallery housed a much more interesting exhibit: "Class Action: Education and Opportunity in the Nation's Capital," which tells the story of Black education in DC (public schools, segregation, desegregation, Black higher education in the city). The exhibit was interesting, much larger than the DC Hall of History, and quite interactive.
The last gallery (the one in basement) has a series of 16 reproductions of photographs of the building's history. It was interesting to learn about the history of the building, but it's not a large gallery or exhibit.
Overall, I enjoyed learning some DC history I didn't know, but the center isn't a replacement for any of the history museums in DC. I wish it had artifacts and more than just photographs. But it's interesting and worth a quick visit if you're in the area and have some extra time. You can make your visit quick without missing anything (I can't imagine anyone spending more than an hour here; I probably spent closer to a half hour), so it's a good little museum to fit in between visits to other DC sites. Especially as it's free to visit! read more