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Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Museum Support Center

The Museum Support Center (MSC), completed in May 1983 after two years of construction and a decade of intensive planning, is the Smithsonian’s principal off-site collections storage facility. At that time, the building included four storage areas (called “pods”), offices and laboratories in a unique zigzag shaped design, covering 4 ½ acres of land in Suitland, Maryland. The building incorporated the latest in museum technology and was designed to provide the optimum conditions for both the preservation and study of Smithsonian collections.

Photo of the exterior of the MSC building

MSC is home to the Biorepository Center, the Laboratories of Analytical Biology (LAB), the Smithsonian's Museum Conservation Institute (MCI), and numerous department collections from the National Museum of Natural History. It also houses collections from the Hirshorn Museum, the National Museum of American History, and the National Anthropological Archives.

 

Directions to MSC

Photograph of whale bone storage at the museum support center

As a research facility, MSC is open to the public by appointment only. To arrange a visit to MSC, please coordinate with your research contact. You will need to show a valid photo ID to enter MSC.

Museum Support Center

4210 Silver Hill Road

Suitland, Maryland 20746

The Smithsonian operates a free hourly shuttle bus service from the National Museum of Natural History on the National Mall to the Museum Support Center. The shuttle runs from 8:00 AM to 6:15 PM, and departs from the Mall entrance of the museum on Madison Drive on the hour. It arrives at MSC 27 minutes later. It departs MSC on the half hour, from 8:30 AM to 6:00 PM.

You will need a pass to ride the shuttle bus, so please let us know in advance if you plan to ride the shuttle. You will also need a photo ID to board the shuttle and enter the Museum Support Center. Please let us know if you would like to schedule a wheelchair-accessible shuttle bus.

The walk from the Suitland Metro station to MSC is about 10-15 minutes. Take the Green Line to the Suitland Station. Turn right as you exit the station, and keep veering right onto the path that takes you to Silver Hill Road. Follow the sidewalk across the bridge over Suitland Parkway. The Museum Support Center is the second large building on the right side of the street, behind a black wrought iron fence. Ask the guard at the entrance to the campus to direct you to the Museum Support Center. You must present a photo ID to enter the Museum Support Center.

Accessing and Checking in to MSC

You will need to bring a photo ID to be permitted into MSC. Please remember to bring the contact information of the individual meeting you. Please check in at the MSC Security desk at the main entrance. You will need to register your laptop, cameras, and other valuables at the MSC Security desk before you can enter the building.

 

Available Facilities and Equipment

Guest wifi is available throughout the building.

Please check with your contact in regards to any equipment you may need to facilitate your work.

Food is available for purchase at MSC's cafeteria, or you may bring your own. As MSC is a collections care and storage facility, MSC has a strict food and beverage policy that we ask you to follow. This is to limit the attraction of pests that can cause significant damage to the collections. Food consumption, storage, and disposal is only permitted in certain areas. Your contact can inform you of the nearest designated breakroom for food consumption and storage.

In April 2007, Pod 5 –the first addition– and its related laboratories was opened at the east end of the Museum Support Center, adding approximately 125,000 sq. ft. to the original building. Pod 5 houses all of the National Museum of Natural History’s biological collections preserved in fluids such as alcohol and formalin as well as small collections from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and the National Zoological Park. The facility includes all of the latest technology for the safe use of flammable liquids. 

In 2010-2011, Pod 3 was totally renovated, converting the space from housing wet collections to a new two-level repository for art collections from the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Freer & Sackler Galleries, and the National Museum of African Art as well as Physical Anthropology and collections requiring specialized environments from the National Museum of Natural History. These include films and images from the National Anthropology Archives; Antarctic meteorites maintained in a Class 10,000 clean room; Paleobiology core samples; and anthropological objects requiring low humidity. 

The biorepository in Pod 3 was constructed in 2011 and is a central and secure facility for the storage of frozen tissue samples, DNA and related materials from a wide range of species. The biorepository has the capacity to store over 4 million 2 milliliter cryotubes containing tissue or DNA. Storage temperatures range from minus 30 degrees Celsius to minus 190 degrees Celsius in 58 mechanical freezers and 20 liquid nitrogen freezers. The former swing space known as “Pluto” in Pod 3 has been renovated to accommodate the returning USGS Paleobiology collection from Denver. This paleobiology project involves a massive collection of over 1,100 quarter units of material and will become one of the largest paleobiology collections in the country when the project reaches completion in spring 2020.

To ensure the collections are available for future generations, the environment within the MSC is strictly controlled to minimize impact on collections.  Monitored by computer and reacting to thermostats and humidistats in every room, the climate control system can maintain desired environmental conditions in all areas of the building year-round. 

A modern pest management program, involving the inspection and treatment of incoming collection materials, inspection of collections cabinets, and the placement of insect traps throughout the building, permit staff to monitor the occurrence of insect pests in the facility and prevent the development of infestations that could be harmful to the collections

The five pods, each approximately the size of a football field and rising to about 28 feet in height, are separated from an office and laboratory complex by a 20-foot wide central corridor or “Street.”  Each of the pods functions like a large, self-contained storage cabinet with insulated walls over eighteen inches thick. MSC collections storage space totals 600,000 square feet. Pods 1, 2 and part of 4 contain over 15,000 storage cabinets. Portions of Pod 3 and 4, referred to as “high bay” house oversize specimens such as boats, totem poles, fossils, meteorites and artwork. 


The “Street” serves as the spinal column for the building. Not only does it function as the central circulation corridor for people and materials throughout the facility, it also contains, at ceiling-level, the main air conditioning, water, electrical, data, and other utility systems for the building. This design allows primary systems maintenance to be done in the Street without compromising the security and safety of the collections and laboratory areas. 

In 2025, the second addition—Pod 6—adds 187,735 gross square feet to the Museum Support Center, expanding collections storage and support space. Occupants include the National Museum of Natural History, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, National Postal Museum, National Museum of American History, and the National Gallery of Art (NGA), with Smithsonian units occupying 54% and NGA 46%.

Critical collections needs met by Pod 6:

  • End costly storage leases.
  • Relocate collections from at-risk, flood-prone, or code-deficient spaces.
  • Provide swing space for Mall building renovations.
  • Decompress existing MSC storage areas while preserving adjacencies.

Pod 6 ensures long-term preservation, operational flexibility, and secure housing for vital collections. Pod 6 includes collections storage, support areas, and a stand-alone mechanical plant. It stands 44 feet taller than adjacent Pod 4, with:

  • Level 1: 66,758 SF; high-bay storage, support spaces, and direct access to the MSC “Street.”
  • Level 2: 53,205 SF; primarily collections storage.
  • Level 3: 52,720 SF; collections storage, environmental chambers, and freezer storage.
  • Size of Collection: more than 156 million collection items
  • Oldest items: Iron meteorites estimated to be 4.56 billion years old
  • Coldest items: Tissue samples stored at minus 130 degrees Celsius
  • Heaviest items: A fossil weighing 5,291 pounds and a pepper-mill grinding stone weighing 3,646 pounds
  • Longest item: A 44-foot totem pole
  • Largest bone: Blue whale mandible (jaw bone)
  • Smallest items: Microscopic animals and plants