Museum collects Obama artifacts

Curators at the Smithsonian Institution wasted no time snapping up souvenirs from President-elect Barack Obama’s historic campaign victory and revealed plans Wednesday to re-create one of the campaign’s Virginia field offices in a future exhibit.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture, slated to open in 2015 on the National Mall, scooped up items that had been headed for the trash can -- such as election maps, strategy boards, campaign literature and even a recliner from Obama’s campaign office in Falls Church, Va. -- shortly after the election.

Most of the campaign loot would have ended up in the trash or been taken as souvenirs, volunteers said. The items may not be priceless artifacts, but they are “proof that we participated in one of the most historically significant elections in American history,” said museum director Lonnie Bunch.

-- Associated Press