When: closing June 4, 2018
It's not often I get a chance to visit a new space at the Smithsonian, but I've never been to the Taubman Gallery at American History, so I'm assuming it's new. It's a nice, airy gallery with changing exhibitions, so I'm sure I'll be back many times in the future.
Colonial America was a place where people of many religions settled: a wide variety of Protestants, Catholics, Jews and Muslims. Although there were some who wanted to establish a state religion when the United States declared its independence, those who advocated against this idea won out. So the "spiritual marketplace" as early America was described, continues to this day.
This display has a treasure trove of artifacts and would be worth seeing regardless of your views on religion and religious history. Among the great things are a church bell made by Revere and Son (he of the midnight ride), an iron cross (loaned by Georgetown University) made from pieces of ships that came to the U.S. in 1634, George Washington's inaugural bible and Thomas Jefferson's bible that he made by cutting out the pieces he liked from several other bibles (he went through the gospels and cut out all the bits with miracles and pasted into his own book the sayings and teachings of Jesus).
Verdict: An informative exhibition in a fine new space.
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