On View June 26, 2026–June 6, 2027
The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery will present “The Spirit of Invention: Patent Office and Patentees” June 26 through June 6, 2027. The exhibition will highlight the historic Patent Office Building, which served as the epicenter of American innovation and is now the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture. “The Spirit of Invention” is curated by Senior Curator of Photographs Ann Shumard.
On July 4, 1836, President Andrew Jackson signed legislation to overhaul the nation’s patent system and fund the construction of a purpose-built Patent Office in Washington, D.C. Completed in 1867, the Patent Office Building employed hundreds of staff and exhibited thousands of scale models of patented inventions. It later became the home of the National Portrait Gallery, which opened in 1968, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, which moved into the building that same year.
This exhibition traces the early history of the Patent Office through works from the museum’s collection. Highlights include a painted portrait miniature of Jackson, who selected the building’s site, plan and architect; a daguerreotype of inventor Samuel Morse; and an 1869 print depicting patent examiners at work during a surge in patent applications.
“The ability to patent inventions has long been a catalyst for innovation in the United States,” Shumard said. “This exhibition spotlights both the historic Patent Office Building and early patentees whose inventions fueled the nation’s technological advances.”
Also on view will be rare daguerreotypes of patentees and historic prints representing the architecture of the Patent Office Building. Portraits of inventors include Thaddeus Lowe, who devised a portable hydrogen generator for reconnaissance balloons during the Civil War, and Abraham Lincoln, the only U.S. President to hold a patent.
“The Spirit of Invention: Patent Office and Patentees” will be presented in the Early Photography Alcove on the museum’s first floor.
National Portrait Gallery
The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery tells the multifaceted story of the United States through the individuals who have shaped American culture. Spanning the visual arts, performing arts and new media, the Portrait Gallery portrays poets and presidents, visionaries and villains, actors and activists whose lives tell the nation’s story.
The National Portrait Gallery is located at Eighth and G streets N.W., Washington, D.C. Smithsonian Information: (202) 633-1000. Connect with the museum at npg.si.edu and on Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube.