Committee on House Administration Holds Hearing on Potential National Women’s History Museum

December 10, 2013 (Washington, D.C.) Today, the Committee on House Administration held a hearing entitled “Establishing a Commission to Study the Potential Creation of a National Women’s History Museum”.

The Committee heard from Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the author of H.R. 863, and its Republican Co-Sponsor Rep. Marsha Blackburn. The bill would establish a Commission to study the entire range of issues in establishing a new museum including its potential location, how it would be funded, what it would exhibit and whether it should be part of the Smithsonian Institution. They also heard from Joan Wages, President and CEO, National Women’s History Museum, an organization dedicated to the creation of the museum on or near the National Mall.

Committee Democrats understand the need to highlight the significant, and often unheralded, role of women in our nation’s history. Committee Democrats also used the occasion to ask that Chairman Miller convene a hearing early next year to consider the report on the creation of a National Museum of the American Latino. That report was authorized by Congress, completed and delivered in 2011.

The Committee on House Administration has jurisdiction over museums, or potential museums, if they are, or might become, part of the Smithsonian. In recent times, Congress has authorized within the Smithsonian, the National Museum of the American Indian, which opened in 2004, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which is currently under construction and due for completion in 2016.