For the past 50 years, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington has been telling America’s story with images of people who helped shape the history and culture of the United States.
Telling America’s story
Each November, the Gallery selects a number of portraits to add to its collection. This year, it added 28 more pictures in an effort to tell a more diverse and complete story of American society.
While the display features well-known personalities such as former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, it also sheds light on some lesser-known “hidden figures.”
Ann Shumard, senior curator of photographs at the Gallery, said this year's selections represent a wide range of fields in a variety of formats, “ranging from paintings to prints to photographs to sculpture. It's really quite a wonderful panoply of objects.”
