‘It takes an entire museum to do it justice’: the Smithsonian celebrates America in 250 objects

‘We have something for everybody. That’s the beauty of the museum and the 250 objects’ … Star-Spangled Banner. Photograph: Jaclyn Nash, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

To paraphrase the musical Rent, 131,487,300 minutes – how do you measure, measure 250 years? Especially in a country navigating an election year fraught with divisions and disagreements over basic facts?

That is the challenge facing the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington DC as it marks the semiquincentennial of US independence.