Hall of Transportation

I recently went to the reopened Smithsonian Museum of American History and wound up in the Hall of Transportation (sponsored by General Motors). There is no National Museum of Transportation so this is as close as we get (Possible tenant for the Blue Castle?). I was pleased while in there to see they had a couple of bikes in the room "Streetcar City" which highlights transportation in DC around the beginning of the 20th Century. They have a Woman’s Overman Victoria safety bicycle from 1889 and a Man’s Cleveland safety bicycle from 1899(pictured). They also have an ad for the Overman Wheel Company. 

The next time they mention bikes is in the "City and Suburb" when they show a child and her Schwinn Panther bicycle from 1953.

Owning a bicycle gave children a certain amount of freedom. This was especially true in the suburbs, where roads were less crowded and drivers were used to large numbers of children moving through the neighborhood.

The last mention is in the safety display under "On the Interstate" with a Bell Biker bicycle helmet.

In the late 1970s even bicycle riders became increasingly concerned about safety. Bell produced one of the first effective helmets, a polystyrene foam liner covered by a hard shell

And that's it. I wouldn't mind seeing a modern commuter bike making the exhibit.

There is more information online. For example the helmet, one of only two local items in the bicycle collection, was used in DC in 1979 and includes this:

In the early years of cycling not many people wore helmets. Some riders donned pith helmets and racing cyclists would wear leather head covers mostly to protect themselves from scrapes and abrasions in case they were thrown from their bike. Later in the twentieth century, hockey and motor cycle helmets were tried but they were not effective and the latter was uncomfortable. During the 1970s, the foam lined lightweight plastic shell cover helmet was introduced on the market for cyclists. These protected against head injury and were more comfortable to wear.

And for the bicycle pictured at top

This bicycle was used by L. J. Powers who road to work in Nashua, Iowa from his home in Powersville on a daily basis between the years of 1899 and 1902.

The other local item is this

The Standard Columbia, built by the Pope Manufacturing Co., of Hartford Connecticut, and was available in models with front-wheel diameters ranging from 42 to 58 inches. This particular Standard Columbia Ordinary sold for $95. It was acquired by the Museum in 1970. Mr. Frank E. Waring (the donor's father) used this machine to participate in cycling activities in the Washington, D.C., area.

They have quite a few bikes in their collection. Though it looks like  nothing after 1965. I suspect a Lance Armstrong bike is destined to be acquired. And one has to think that a SmartBike - the first modern bike sharing system in the United States - will eventually find it's way into the permanent collection. The latter would be a nice addition to "America on the Move" as well. What other bikes is the collection missing?