Exhibitions

Panama's Canal: Dawn of a New Era

November 19, 1999 – March 19, 2000

National Museum of American History
1300 Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, DC

2nd Floor, West Wing, History-in-the-News case

See on Map Floor Plan

This exhibition focuses on the final two decades of U.S. control of the Canal, from the signing of the Canal Treaty in 1977 to the turnover of the Canal to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999. Objects include Canal-related folk crafts collected in Panama in 1999 and the actual pintle ball from the Canal, which is the steel bearing that the Canal's 700-ton lock gates turn upon as they open and close.