WASHINGTON, DC.- The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum opened two exhibitions on highlighting historical moments for the country and the Washington, D.C., area. “Best Laid Plans: Designs for Capital City” juxtaposes unrealized plans for D.C. landmarks with reality. “Songs of the Civil War” highlights some of the stories, heroes and tragedies of the Civil War through popular battlefield music of the day. The exhibitions—organized in collaboration with the museum’s Albert H. Small Center for National Capital Area Studies—are on view through December 22.

“Best Laid Plans: Designs for a Capital City”
Every landmark in Washington has a story. "Best Laid Plans" showcases unrealized designs for the Washington Monument, Arlington Memorial Bridge and U.S. Capitol Building through historical prints and paintings from the museum's Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection.

“Best Laid Plans” also revisits artist Peter Waddell’s Washington paintings that were unveiled last fall in the exhibition “Eye of the Bird: Visions and Views of D.C.’s Past.” Waddell’s oil paintings, “The Indispensable Plan” and “The Village Monumental,” are panoramic landscapes that contrast D.C. as planner Pierre L’Enfant envisioned it in 1791 with the city’s actual development in 1825, the year of Mr. L’Enfant’s death.

“Songs of the Civil War”
During the Civil War, music had the power to inspire patriotism and service, and to capture loss on the battlefield. Both Union and Confederate armies employed professional bands, and civilians sang patriotic tunes at rallies. "Songs of the Civil War" draws from historical sheet music in the Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection to explore the emotions and experiences of a nation divided by war.