In the past few years the Smithsonian has moved into another dimension and in 1995 officially announced its address in cyberspace. There are no closing hours, no long lines or impenetrable crowds, no need to worry about wheelchair ramps or other special facilities. With a few mouse clicks visitors can leap from modern art to ancient artifacts, travel around between centuries and across continents, exploring people, places and things as never before in history. In fact you do not even have to be in the United States. If you have a computer and a link to the World-Wide web in any spot in the world you can visit the Smithsonian at your leisure.
Every portion throws light on all the others.
The Smithsonian Home Page is undoubtedly one of the Internet's most popular sites. Among the most popular are the American Art, the American Indian Museum, National Zoo and the National Air and Space Museum. Plans are underway to expand in every arena of Smithsonian operations, including the extremely popular products which are included in the Museum Shops on the Mall and in the Smithsonian catalogue. I am very pleased that this beginning of the Institution's efforts to reach out electronically to the nation and to the world is so successful. As we improve and enlarge our presentation it should become even more popular.