Department of the Interior

Department of the Interior Review

The outside of the building is plain, but inside a wealth of art reflects the department's work. Heroic oil paintings of dam construction, gold panning, and cattle drives line the hallways. Exhibits in the Department of the Interior Museum outline the work of the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the National Park Service, and other department branches. The museum is currently closed for renovations, and public programs are offered in other parts of the main building once or twice a month. On Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2, you can view more than 75 of the museum's dramatic murals created in the 1940s by photographer Ansel Adams and other artists such as Maynard Dixon and John Steuart Curry. Reservations are required for the Murals Tour; call at least two weeks in advance. The Indian Craft Shop across the hall from the museum sells Native American pottery, dolls, carvings, jewelry, baskets, and books.