Senate Passes Bill Paving Way for Weitzman Jewish Museum to Join Smithsonian

The US Senate passed a bill on Tuesday that would develop a plan to transfer the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia to the Smithsonian Institution. The unanimous vote follows the passing of a companion bill by the House of Representatives in September that paved the way for the process.

The bill passed by the Senate would create an eight-member commission appointed by members of the House and Senate that would assess the practicability of the Weitzman joining the Smithsonian, a trust of museums and research facilities owned by the US government and partially funded by federal coffers. 

Within the last decade, Congress authorized the development of two new museums to the Smithsonian: The National Museum of the American Latino (approved in 2022), and the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum (2020). The Weitzman, if transferred, would become the Smithsonian’s only institution dedicated to Jewish American history.

“Bringing the Weitzman Museum fully into the Smithsonian family would give it expanded access to not only artifacts and documents, but robust educational resources, expertise and staff training to aid in the ongoing mission to preserve and promote the culture of American Jews,” Sen. Bob Casey (PA), who led the passing of the bill, said in a statement. The transfer has received bipartisan support and an expedient legislative process, a rarity in recent Smithsonian history.

The construction of the National Museum of African American History and Culture was finished in 2016, 13 years after its legislative establishment. The National Museum of the American Latino, meanwhile, has faced successive hurdles from Republican opposition. In 2022, an op-ed authored by three conservatives critics called for its funding to be withheld in protest of the museum’s perceived Marxist agenda.

The Weitzman was founded in 1976 as the National Museum of American Jewish History; it was renamed in 2021 in honor of a large, undisclosed donation from shoe designer Stuart Weitzman. It is currently an affiliate of the Smithsonian.

“Educating all Americans—from all over the country—about the amazing contributions Jewish Americans made to our nation not only raises awareness but helps dispel harmful prejudices about our community,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), one of the bill’s four co-founders, said in a statement. “Welcoming [the Weitzman] into the larger Smithsonian family would bring that vision closer to reality.”