“American Enterprise” Exhibit Opens at NMAH

The previously announced "American Enterprise" exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History (NMAH) opened on July 1. Primarily a physical exhibition, it also has a web component featuring specific essays and numerous illustrations. Moving from the "Merchant Era," to the "Corporate Era," to the "Consumer Era," to the "Global Era," the exhibition "chronicles the tumultuous interaction of capitalism and democracy that resulted in the continual remaking of American business—and American life." Readers interested in the background of the exhibition can read a discussion with the exhibition project director David Allison and also see the press release.
   The exhibition website also features a Flickr section of large-scale photographs of the physical exhibition. The curators have published an accompanying book, American Enterprise, from Smithsonian Books (with an excerpt available).