Three larger-than-life bronze bison and two linked exhibitions are carrying the American bison’s cultural, ecological and conservation history across the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in 2026.
The sculptures, designed by natural-history artist Gary Staab, were modeled after specimens from the Smithsonian’s original bison display. They traveled from a Colorado foundry through museums in Denver, Lincoln, Iowa City and Chicago before going on public view at the National Mall entrance March 19.
Their arrival recalls living bison the Smithsonian kept behind its Castle in the late 1880s, when the species had declined from millions of animals to only a few hundred. That early display helped draw attention to the collapse and preceded the National Zoo.
‘Bison: Standing Strong,’ which opened May 7, follows the species from ancient origins through decline and recovery. Its centerpiece is a mounted plains bison, accompanied by fossils including a 12,000-year-old pierced vertebra and a giant Bison latifrons skull with a horn span of about seven feet.
The exhibition also includes objects from Indigenous communities, historical images, a prairie soundscape, large visuals, videos and replica bones visitors can touch. The museum says the material addresses both enduring Native relationships with bison and the animal’s role in prairie ecosystems.
A second exhibition, ‘Imagining Bison,’ opened May 21 through Smithsonian Libraries and Archives. It uses books, art, archival documents and photographs to examine how science and visual culture shaped the Smithsonian’s conservation work.
The sculptures and exhibitions are part of the Institution’s programming for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Educational events throughout the year include talks, screenings and hands-on activities.
The program does not present recovery as a return to the enormous historical herds. Its narrative begins with near-extinction and follows organized conservation, while recognizing that present-day populations and landscapes differ from those before the 19th-century collapse.
‘Bison: Standing Strong’ is scheduled to remain open through May 2029, and the bronze sculptures are intended as a permanent entrance installation. The temporary anniversary program therefore leaves both a multiyear exhibition and a lasting public artwork.