In the century and a half since the Smithsonian was founded, it has grown from a one-building science center to nineteen museums and galleries — one in New York — the National Zoo, numerous research facilities, and 138 affiliates nationwide and in Panama and Puerto Rico. The collection contains more than 200 million objects and keeps growing daily.

Major donations still enrich the institution. Recently, a noted collector of Asian art, Dr. Paul Singer, donated art to complement the existing collection in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. And billionaire Steven F. Udvar-Hazy donated $60 million to create a spectacular sister museum, the Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport, which displays 180 airplanes and spacecraft, including the space shuttle Enterprise.

In 2004, the Smithsonian also saw the addition of a new building that houses a new museum — the National Museum of the American Indian, located on the Mall. Furthermore, the renovated and restored National Museum of American Art and the National Portrait Gallery reopened in 2006. Also undergoing extensive renovation are the Arts and Industries building and the National Museum of American History, which will make the star-spangled banner the Museum's central icon. It should reopen in 2008.