Smithsonian Museum Support Center

The Smithsonian Museum Support Center in Suitland, Maryland, is the Smithsonian Institution’s principal collections management and research facility, holding more than 54 million items that are not on public display. Dedicated in May 1983 after years of planning and construction, it opened with four storage pods, offices, and laboratories, and later expanded with a fifth pod dedicated in April 2007 for the National Museum of Natural History’s biological wet collections. Its five pods provide 435,000 square feet of specialized, tightly controlled storage space that supports conservation, research, and the long-term preservation of fragile objects and specimens for future study and display.

Silver Hill, Maryland · United States