Smithsonian Museum Support Center
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Smithsonian Museum Support Center is a museum in Maryland, at a modelled elevation of 86 m. Gantt Hill stands 156 m to the west-northwest, 17 miles off. The nearest named place is Smithsonian Gardens Greenhouse, a museum 0.1 miles away. Booth's Escape passes 0.4 miles off. 32 named summits stand within 25 miles.
The story
The Smithsonian Institution's Museum Support Center (MSC) is a collections storage and conservation facility in Suitland, Maryland which houses Smithsonian collections which are not on display in the museums. It is not usually open to the public, due to security concerns, though occasionally special tours are organized. More than 54 million collections items are housed at the MSC. This comprises approximately 40 percent of the Smithsonian's collection which is not on display, while the rest of the objects are housed behind-the-scenes in the museums themselves or at other off-site storage facilities.
The collections are housed in five numbered buildings, called "Pods," each about the size of a 3-story-tall football field. The pods total 435,000 square feet of collections storage space. Notable features include "enormous tanks for cleaning whale skulls, chambers to preserve Antarctic meteorites, art from throughout the ages, and a botany collection with five greenhouses." The MSC was dedicated in May 1983, after two years of construction and ten years of planning. It opened with the first four pods, plus offices, labs, and plans to expand into two additional pods. The fifth pod was dedicated in April 2007 at the east end of the MSC, and now houses all of the National Museum of Natural History's biological collections (25 million specimens) preserved in fluids, known as the "wet collections." The environment within the MSC is strictly controlled in order to minimize impact on collections, and is based on research by engineers at the Museum Conservation Institute (located at the MSC) and the Smithsonian's Office of Facilities, Engineering and Operations. The target temperature is generally set at 70 degrees Fahrenheit (+/- 4 degrees), with relative humidity at 45 percent (+/- 8 percent). In its laboratory and office areas, the MSC houses the Smithsonian's Museum Conservation Institute (MCI), the Laboratories of Analytical Biology (LAB) and other numerous departments from the National Museum of Natural History, including the Department of Anthropology, the National Anthropological Archives (NAA), the Human Studies Film Archives (HSFA), the Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit (WRBU), as well as branch of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Dates from 1983.
Wikidata Q7545618, referenced by the OpenStreetMap record.
What the record says
- Height
- 17.71 m
What to expect
- Operated by
- Smithsonian
How to reach it
- 0.4 mi off the Booth's Escape
- 3.8 mi off the Star-Spangled Banner Byway
- 5.6 mi off the George Washington Memorial Parkway, National
- 13.3 mi off the Old Georgetown Pike
Overlooks nearby
- Viewing Area · 8 mi
- Freedom Park Viewpoint · 8 mi
- George Washington Memorial Parkway Overlook 1 · 10 mi
- Fort Washington Overlook · 10 mi
Named places within 25 miles
- Smithsonian Gardens Greenhouse: 0.1 mi
- Smithsonian NMAI Cultural Resources Center: 0.2 mi
- Smithsonian Institution Anacostia Community Museum: 2.2 mi
- America's Islamic Heritage Museum: 3.1 mi
- National Museum of the U.S. Navy: 3.6 mi
- Between Earth and Sky - Number 1: 0.5 mi
- Between Earth and Sky - Number 5: 0.6 mi
- Between Earth and Sky - Number 7: 0.6 mi
- Between Earth and Sky - Number 6: 0.6 mi
- Between Earth and Sky - Number 4: 0.6 mi
- GSA-Photovoltaic Array: 0.6 mi
- Officer Lawrence Buckner Memorial: 0.7 mi
- Anthony Shaw: 2.4 mi
- J. Robert Elliott: 2.7 mi
- Plaque marking the establishment of Saint Ignatius Catholic Church in 1849: 3.0 mi
- Marlow Heights Community Center: 0.7 mi
- Bradbury Heights Recreation Center: 1.0 mi
- Dupont Heights Park: 1.4 mi
- Suitland Park: 1.6 mi
- Hillcrest Recreation Center: 1.6 mi
- Hillcrest Park: 1.9 mi
- Alger Park: 2.0 mi
- Barnaby Run Park: 2.2 mi
- Fort Chaplin Park: 3.1 mi
- Fort Mahan Park: 3.6 mi
- Community Garden Plots (NPS): 2.4 mi
- Ex Garden Future & MTB Pump Track: 2.7 mi
- East Capitol Urban Farm: 3.5 mi
- Barracks Row Community Garden: 3.7 mi
- River Street Gardens: 3.8 mi
- Frederick Douglass National Historic Site: 2.8 mi
- John Gould Stephenson: 3.2 mi
- Stephen Pleasonton: 3.3 mi
- Anne Royall: 3.3 mi
- George Mifflin Bache: 3.3 mi
- Troy Park: 7.0 mi
- Picnic site for Rose park: 7.6 mi
- Picnic Area 12: 8.4 mi
- Picnic Area 13: 8.4 mi
- Picnic Area 11: 8.4 mi
- Good Hope Hill: 2.1 mi
- Bald Eagle Hill: 4.0 mi
- Hickey Hill: 4.9 mi
- Mount Hamilton: 4.9 mi
- Round Hill: 6.3 mi
- Fishing Shore: 9.6 mi
- Lake Barcroft Beach: 11.2 mi
- Purplehorse Beach: 18.7 mi
- Sycamore Beach: 18.8 mi
- Bare Neck Shore: 21.7 mi
- Rosier Bluff: 6.8 mi
- Indian Queen Bluff: 7.7 mi
- Indian Head: 20.8 mi
- Owings Cliffs: 21.4 mi
- Fairhaven Cliffs: 21.9 mi
- Takoma Spring: 9.7 mi
- Indian Springs: 11.1 mi
- Silver Spring: 11.2 mi
- Clean Drinking Manor Spring: 12.7 mi
- Sandy Spring: 21.0 mi
- Stubblefield Falls: 16.2 mi
- Scott's Run Falls: 16.5 mi
- Great Falls: 19.9 mi
- Coe Creek: 24.2 mi
- Wilson: 18.4 mi
Summits around it
The highest named summits within 25 miles of Smithsonian Museum Support Center. Elevation from each summit’s own record; bearing measured between the two coordinates.
| Summit | Bearing | Elevation | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gantt Hill | WNW 290° | 156 m | 16.7 mi |
| Hunting Hill | NW 320° | 156 m | 21.7 mi |
| Mount Daniel | WNW 286° | 144 m | 13.6 mi |
| Minor's Hill | WNW 290° | 140 m | 12.4 mi |
| Freedom Hill | WNW 289° | 140 m | 17.2 mi |
| Prout Hill | W 281° | 137 m | 13.8 mi |
| Upton Hill | W 281° | 125 m | 11.3 mi |
| Point Reno | NW 316° | 123 m | 10.5 mi |
When to go
Light through the year
| Date | Sunrise | Golden hour | Sunset |
|---|---|---|---|
| March equinox | 07:12 | 18:45 | 19:20 |
| June solstice | 05:44 | 19:57 | 20:37 |
| September equinox | 06:56 | 18:31 | 19:07 |
| December solstice | 07:23 | 16:08 | 16:50 |
Local time (America/New_York).
Climate normals
Months averaging 50–80 °F: Apr–Oct.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg °F | 36 | 38 | 45 | 56 | 65 | 74 | 78 | 77 | 70 | 58 | 48 | 40 |
| Precip in | 3.1 | 2.9 | 4.0 | 3.4 | 4.5 | 4.9 | 5.0 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 3.8 | 3.1 | 3.7 |
1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, NOAA NCEI — Oxon Hill, 4 mi away.
Where this comes from
Location and category confirmed against OpenStreetMap.
OpenStreetMapWikidataOpenStreetMap element way/224941929
Day trips start here
- Suitland · 1 mi
- Washington, D.C./Anacostia · 2 mi
- Clinton-Camp Springs · 4 mi
- Washington, D.C./Capitol Hill · 4 mi
- Prince George's County · 5 mi
- Washington, D.C./Near Northeast · 5 mi
Take the scenic way to Smithsonian Museum Support Center.
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