Museum of History

The Smithsonian Museum of History is a former museum turned all-ghoul settlement located in Washington, D.C. in 2277.

Exterior
The museum is on the north side of The Mall, north and a little east of the Washington Monument. Its east and west wings straddle the Museum station western exit. Willow, the Underworld sentry, can be found patrolling the area between the metro station and the museum entrance.

Interior
The structure itself is relatively undamaged, but most of the exhibits have been destroyed or ruined. The only un-destroyed exhibit is a woolly mammoth which can be seen as soon as you enter. It contains the entrance to the Underworld, a city of ghouls. The museum also houses a number of artifacts of Abraham Lincoln (see below), notably including Lincoln's repeater and hat. The building occupies the real-world site of the National Museum of Natural History.

Access
As with the Washington Monument and Capitol Building, the only access to the Museum of History is through the metro. Be warned, the metro is inhabited by a number of raiders, and the only way to get through the metro to the museum is to fight through. The easiest way to get to the museum through the metro is to go in Anacostia Crossing and head up the tracks, then to go through the Museum station.

Inhabitants
The museum - except for Underworld - is infested by feral ghouls, glowing ones and reavers. Fawkes will be waiting in the lobby if the player decided to free him from Vault 87, without picking him up as a companion.

With the Broken Steel add-on and after completion of the quest Take it Back!, a ghoul named Griffon can be found here selling The Amazing Aqua Cura! which is Aqua Pura with a "secret ingredient".

Lincoln's artifacts
The Museum of History houses a considerable number of artifacts of Abraham Lincoln. As the former president is a symbol of hope for slaves in the wastelands, his artifacts are highly sought after by both slaves and slavers (and historians, of course). See the main article for item locations and buyers.

Museum of History entrance

 * Nikola Tesla and You is located just inside the museum in the women's bathroom, last stall on the left.

Museum of History Lower Halls

 * D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine in the kitchen area of the lower halls on a shelf. It is in the kitchen room with a first aid box (east kitchen, west wall, bottom shelf).
 * Nuka-Cola Quantum east of the kitchen area of the museum's lower halls, underneath a table, in a crate to the left of the Nuka-Cola machines.
 * Lincoln's diary is found on the second floor of the Museum of History's lower halls inside the northwest corner of the exhibition room.

Museum of History offices

 * Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual on a desk next to the case containing Lincoln's repeater (second floor of museum offices).
 * John Wilkes Booth wanted poster as well as the Civil War draft poster (also indicated below) are found in the Museum of History offices, library section (the 2-story room with the turret), on the lower floor of the room, on bookshelves in the southwest and southeast corners respectively.
 * Antique Lincoln coin collection on the top floor of the library section, when you get to the top of the stairs go through the doorway your right, then north along the hallway and into the first room on the right. It is on a bookshelf on the west side of this room.
 * Action Abe action figure item found in the offices on a desk in the archives room behind a very hard locked door. You can access this without lock picking by going through the large hole in the wall nearby.
 * Lincoln's hat is found on the first floor of the offices in the first room on the right after coming up the stairs from the lower halls. The room has a large hole in its ceiling and is located next to the men's bathroom.
 * Lincoln's voice is found in the Museum of History offices. It is located in the library (the 2-story room with the turret), upstairs, on a desk to the left of the hole blown in the main room up there.
 * Lincoln's repeater is found in the display case in the Museum of History offices. Up the stairs in the library, through the hole in the wall, back of the room look left before door.
 * Civil War draft poster can be found in the southeast corner of the museum on the lower office level, on the top shelf of the bookcases you see when looking westwards. It seems that the poster can also fall to the ground as well. This may be a result of the turret shooting at ghouls or maybe an odd placement by developers which causes it to fall. Check both the top shelf and the ground.
 * Lincoln Memorial poster (also indicated above) is found on the upper level of the Museum of History offices to the right of the broken section of the wall, hanging on the wall behind a desk. The poster will not appear there until the player talks with Caleb Smith during the Head of State quest. Be aware it is also in the line of fire of the defense turret hanging from the ceiling, so additional caution would be advised when retrieving it. Note that the Lincoln Memorial poster is a quest item, so if you wanted to keep it in your house, you're out of luck.

Appearances
The Museum of History appears only in Fallout 3.

Bugs

 * When the player first enters the lower levels of the Museum of History, the feral ghouls, reavers, and one glowing one may not attack the player. They may just run around after each other, not attacking the player until attacked, while appearing as enemies on the player's radar.
 * If the player wears the ghoul mask into the abandoned portion of the Museum of History, not only will the feral ghouls refrain from attacking, but the automated turrets will not target the player.
 * It is possible to re-lock the exhibit security gates, after they have been picked, by hacking the nearby computer and closing them. You may then proceed to pick the locks again using this method, gaining XP (fixed in patch 1.1).
 * When leaving Underworld, while walking through the museum entrance, your followers will disappear. This does not happen with Fawkes, due to the fact that it is his waiting point. The followers should reappear on exiting the area. Curiously, the game seems aware of this glitch, due to the fact followers may materialize through the door a few seconds after you have left, rather than just appearing instantly.
 * Sometimes after destroying the turrets the shooting sound effects will continue to play.
 * Sometimes when fast traveling to the museum, a super mutant will spawn inside the museum's cell. The only way to get to the super mutant is to use the console command of and walk through the building. It can be killed and looted normally.