Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum Launches Augmented Reality Project On National Mall
The Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum launched an augmented reality initiative called Unhidden Heroines beginning June 18, allowing users with smartphones or computers to view five virtual monuments on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The project highlights Julia Ward Howe, Polly Cooper, Mary Katharine Goddard, Elizebeth Smith Friedman, and Dorothy Height, pairing each illustrated figure with an existing monument such as the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson memorial area, or the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. Users scan QR codes to access interactive and non-interactive versions that explain each woman’s historical role, including Goddard’s publication of the first official signed copy of the Declaration of Independence. Congress established the museum in 2020, and its website still indicates it will be “at least 10 years” before a physical building opens; Unhidden Heroines will be available through Dec. 31 during the US 250th anniversary year.
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This story was covered in AI Museums, Restitution Heat, and History Wars