The Smithsonian is a collection of national museums in Washington, DC and New York City that has been affectionately called "The Nation's Attic." There are sixteen museums and galleries, the National Zoo and numerous research facilities in the United States and abroad dedicated to public education, national service, and scholarship in the arts, sciences, and history. The home page is stuffed with links to a wide range of information.

Here are the links to sites best for Western Art History:

1. Art and Design takes you to special web exhibits that highlight areas of the collections, such as American Paintings, works by James McNeill Whistler, Drawings from Life and a connection to an art blog "Eye Level." You can also connect to the collections by categories, such as: Architecture, Decorative Arts, Painting, Photography and Sculpture or you can search by region, such as American and European.

2. American Art Museum and Renwick GalleryThe AAM is dedicated to the enjoyment and understanding of American art. The museum celebrates the extraordinary creativity of our country's artists, whose works are windows on the American experience. The Renwick Gallery collects, exhibits, studies, and preserves American crafts and decorative arts from the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries.

3. Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum is the only museum in the nation dedicated exclusively to historic and contemporary design. They exhibit the best of design in architecture, interior design, landscape, product, corporate, and fashion. Check out their National Design Award Winners.

4. Hirshhorn Museum And Sculpture Garden concentrates on modern and contemporary art - from the early 20th century to today. The majority of their collection was created after 1950 and they now emphasize artworks from the most recent 30 years.