cheduled to open in 2010 as the finale of the American Wing renovations — must be built around “Washington Crossing the Delaware.”

Currently the image is yellowish; at places in the blue sky clots of dirt and debris suggest a nonexistent flock of birds. And the prophetic morning star above Washington is barely visible.

“It’s like the boat that was built in the basement,

It’s an experiment

tour de force

Henry Lee

altered unauthorized version

a pivot point in a crucial campaign that rescued the revolution from failure,” Professor Fischer said, adding that it burnished not only Washington’s reputation as a leader, but also brought foreign support for the rebels’ cause.

Hayden Planetarium

143-year-old Mathew Brady photograph

all-around shopping experience

I think that will be the saddest part if there are no more department stores

In the mid-century, convenience was defined as a place to shop within your town, within a 5- or 10-minute drive from your house,” Wood says. “Whereas our notion of convenience now is not leaving our houses

You walk around with your cart. And then you go to one central checkout, as opposed to the checkout in a specific department, and pay for everything all at once.

Colonial Revival style

These women could pack their children into the car, get away from the house, and interact with other adults while running errands. Shopping wasn’t just a duty; it became a source of pleasure.

which would deliver them directly to the high-end floo

So you follow that path, which leads you where the store wants you to go. It leads you away from the exits and toward the interior. When you want to go up, the elevators are always hidden so that you’re more likely to take the escalator. Once you get to the next level, you have to walk all the way around the other side to keep going up, so you see everything showcased on that floor.”

a combination of incandescent and new fluorescent lighting, as well as spotlights, to emphasize particular items for sale

people wanted to be able to go into a store and not have to wait for help. They wanted to be able to see everything in stock

Our notion of convenience now is not leaving our houses

Amazon upsets brick-and-mortar retail today

department stores offered and displayed more, like the same purse in five colors. There was a new desire to let shoppers see and touch all the merchandise

Of course, high-end department stores, like Ransohoff’s in San Francisco, continued to offer the full-service shopping experience. High-society ladies still enjoyed getting dressed from head-to-toe, the way you see Jimmy Stewart having saleswomen remake Kim Novak in 1958’s “Vertigo.” But by and large, the booming mid-century middle class wanted shopping autonomy.

cafeterias, drive-ins, and automats

The stores were designed to create an expansive view so you could come off of the escalator, look around, and see all of the well-labeled departments, instead of having the departments walled off,”

Ultimately, Loewy didn’t just alter American style or tastes, he changed the way Americans consume.

needed somewhere to go,

Rosie the Rivete

tiled walkways littered with debris, untended planters near the darkened rest areas for bored dads, and empty indoor storefronts—the discolored shadows of their missing lighted signs lingering like ghosts.