"Within These Walls..." Exhibition

Visit the Groundbreaking "Within These Walls" Exhibition

The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® is the sole sponsor of the "Within These Walls" exhibition at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. This sponsorship relationship between one of the world's most-visited museums and the largest professional trade association is the first of its kind. NAR and its 1.3 million-plus members are proud to showcase their commitment to educating the public about homeownership and its role in the American Dream.

For REALTOR® Members Only: Share your pride, spread the excitement, and learn more about NAR's sponsorship of "Within These Walls"

About "Within These Walls"

The "Within These Walls" exhibition centers on 200 years of American History as seen from the doorstep of a house erected in the 1760s in Ipswich, Massachusetts, 30 miles north of Boston. Ipswich citizens saved the Georgian-style two-and-a-half story, timber-framed house from the bulldozer in 1963.

The largest artifact in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, this 4,200-square-foot house features people whose lives became part of the great changes and events of the nation's history. These occupants bring the past to life for visitors.

The exhibition shows how five American families made history in their kitchens and parlors. Inside this house, American colonists created a new, genteel lifestyle, patriots set out to fight in a revolution, and an African-American slave struggled for freedom. Neighbors came together to end slavery, immigrants earned a livelihood in their new home, and a woman and her grandson served on the home front during World War II.

Although the museum is closed for renovations, visitors can take an online tour of the house. When the museum reopens in the summer of 2008, visitors will be able to peer through its walls, windows, and doors to view settings that would have been familiar to residents in colonial America and during the American Revolution, the abolitionist movement, the industrial era, and World War II.