For thousands of federal employees, the National Mall is a workplace as well as a public space. The Department of Agriculture, where these women and men worked in 1942, is the only building bordering the Mall exclusively designated as an office, but…

During the 1800s, the massive red brick Department of Agriculture, designed by Adolf Cluss, housed laboratories, agricultural specimens, seeds, plants, animals, geological artifacts, an extensive library, and a museum. Visitors came to see exhibits…

Pennsylvania farmer and dairyman, Isaac Newton served as the first United States Commissioner of Agriculture. Under Newton, the agency focused on research and education, disseminating information to farmers throughout the nation. Newton advocated for…

When President Lincoln created the Department of Agriculture in 1862, the agency consisted of only four scientists and agriculturists. By 1867, their numbers grew to 70 employees, indicating the rapid growth of the scope and influence of what is now…

These young Pages participate in a snowball fight on the Capitol grounds. The Congressional Page program began during the 20th Congress (1827-1829). In the early 1900s, Pages, also called messengers, were generally local Washington children, many of…

In the late 1990s, beavers threatened the cherry trees at the Tidal Basin, gnawing on the trunks and killing at least five trees. The National Park Service had to find a way to preserve the trees without harming the beavers. They placed protective…

Among the items Captain Zebulon Pike sent to President Thomas Jefferson from the western United States was a pair of grizzly bear cubs. Jefferson kept them in a garden on the south side of the White House for a short time before sending the animals…

During World War I, President Woodrow Wilson had flocks of sheep on the White House lawn. Although previous presidents had kept farm animals as pets, these sheep were part of a Presidential initiative to support the war effort. The sheep grazed on…

These American bison, also known as buffalo, were part of the Smithsonian's Department of Living Animals. The Department was started by chief taxidermist William T. Hornaday, who was a spokesman for the conservation movement and very concerned about…

This photograph was taken around 1890, when the Mall was landscaped according to a design by Andrew Jackson Downing. Rather than the wide open lawn edged with trees we see today, this section of the Mall was covered in small evergreens with a winding…