Ansel Adams: The Mural Project Finally Comes Home

Ansel Adams iconic photo of Canyon de Chelly, part of The Mural Project. Photo courtesy Department of the Interior.

After 68 Years Ansel Adams: The Mural Project has finally been given a home and is on display for viewing by the general public at the U.S. Department of the Interior Museum.

The Mural Project was a series of images commissioned by Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes in 1941 to represent the Departments mission to manage and conserve the nation’s vast resource. Ansel’s photos were to be placed on the wall so that visitors and employees would be able to see the beautiful areas the Department of the Interior was responsible for managing, the way the resources were being developed and the people of those areas.

Unfortunately the attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entry into World War II brought Adams to a stop not long after his work began. Nonetheless, he was able to take more than 200 photographs, which were eventually sent to the National Archives where they have been housed ever since.

Now you can finally see them as Ickes and Adams intended, on the walls of the Department of the Interior building in Washington D.C.

The U.S. Department of the Interior Museum exhibition Ansel Adams: The Mural Project 1941-1942 is open to the public by appointment only. Reservations for a guided tour should be made a month in advance by calling the Museum at 202-208-4743. Adult visitors must present photo identification.

The Department of the Interior Museum is located at 1849 C Street, NW Washington, DC 20240.