NYT:Smithsonian Museum Close to Naming a Hall for GM

The New York Times the newspaper of record reported that the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History has offered General Motors the right to name a new 20,000-square-foot hall of transportation in exchange for a $10 million gift, museum officials said Wednesday.

Spencer Crew, the museum's director, emphasized that the Smithsonian had not reached a final agreement with GM. But he described the pending arrangement as an appropriate and necessary way of updating the museum, which has many exhibition halls that have not been renovated since it opened in 1964. The new exhibition, whose cost is estimated at $20 million, will be called "America on the Move" and will be set up in the vast existing automobile, railroad and maritime halls and in additional space as well. Dr. Crew said one way of crediting General Motors that was under discussion would be to add "in the General Motors Hall of Transportation" under the title. The name would remain for 30 years.