David Kite Allison

Author Profile

David Allison is a Curator Emeritus of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. During his 32-year career at the Smithsonian, he served as Associate Director for Curator Affairs, Chairman of the Division of Information Technology and Communications, and Curator of Computers. Previously he had been a Historian at the Department of Energy, Historian of the United States Navy Laboratories, and Historian of the Naval Research Laboratory. He holds his MA and PhD degrees from Princeton University in History of Science, and his BA degree from St. John’s College in Liberal Arts.

His work on Smithsonian exhibitions includes serving as project director and chief curator for the major exhibitions: American Enterprise (2015), The Price of Freedom: Americans at War (2004) and Information Age: People, Information, and Technology (1990). He also curated smaller exhibitions including: Deep Blue (2005), September 11, 2001: Bearing Witness to History (2002), Digilab: a Digital Imaging Laboratory (1999), and Behind the Lines: The Universal Product Code at 25 (1999).

His publications include: Exhibiting America: The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, 1881-2018 (2021), The American Revolution: A World War (2018), American Enterprise: A History of Business in America (2015), The Price of Freedom: Americans at War (2004), “Preserving Software in History Museums: A Material Culture Approach,” (2002); “Universal Product Code in Perspective: Context for a Revolution,” (2001); The ENIAC," (1999); “John A. Dahlgren: Innovator in Uniform,” (1986), and New Eye for the Navy: The Origin of Radar at the Naval Research Laboratory (Washington: GPO, 1981).

List of Publications

1. Exhibiting America: The Smithsonian's National History Museum, 1881-2018 (2021)
2. The American Revolution: A World War (2018)
3. New Eye for the Navy: The Origin of Radar at the Naval Research Laboratory (1981)

Exhibiting America: The Smithsonian's National History Museum, 1881-2018 (Book)

Year of publication: 2021

Publisher: Smithsonian Institution

Genre: History

Description: Exhibiting America explores the varied ways that the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History – under different names over the years – conveyed the story of America to millions of annual visitors in its first 137 years. While NMAH's size and prominent location in the nation’s capital have usually meant its leaders aspired to grand visions, often the realities of exhibition development have tempered and reshaped its exhibitions in unexpected and provocative ways. Exhibiting America takes readers through five distinct eras, describing and analyzing the museum’s major exhibitions. To mark the start of a new era for the museum, Allison and Peterson offer reflections on trends and continuing challenges for the National Museum of American History.

Publication Links

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The American Revolution: A World War (Book)

Year of publication: 2018

Publisher: Smithsonian Institution

Genre: History

Description: A lavishly illustrated essay collection that looks through a global lens at the American Revolution and re-positions it as the real 1st world war “Every American should read this marvelous book.” —Douglas Brinkley, author of Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America From acts of resistance like the Boston Tea Party to the "shot heard 'round the world," the American Revolutionary War stands as a symbol of freedom and democracy the world over for many people. But contrary to popular opinion, this was not just a simple battle for independence in which the American colonists waged a "David versus Goliath" fight to overthrow their British rulers. In over a dozen incisive pieces from leading historians, the American struggle for liberty and independence re-emerges instead as a part of larger skirmishes between Britain and Europe’s global superpowers—Spain, France, and the Dutch Republic. Amid these ongoing conflicts, Britain's focus was often pulled away from the war in America as it fought to preserve its more lucrative colonial interests in the Caribbean and India. With fascinating sidebars throughout and over 110 full-color images featuring military portraiture, historical documents, plus campaign and territorial maps, this fuller picture of one of the first global struggles for power offers a completely new understanding of the American Revolution.

Publication Links

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New Eye for the Navy: The Origin of Radar at the Naval Research Laboratory (Book)

Year of publication: 1981

Publisher: US Naval Research Laboratory

Genre: History

Description: This study narrates the origin of radar at the Naval Research Laboratory. Radar should be seen as the product not simply of one man or even a group of men but rather as the result of individuals working within the structure of a mission-oriented research-and-development facility. To comprehend how radar was developed, when it was developed, and why, one must follow not just the evolution of technical progress but also the administrative and political decisions that shaped it. One must understand how the talents and motivations of the people who created this new device were related to the particular institutional situation and historical context in which they labored. The account is the story of a modern research-and-development laboratory in action. It discusses one major accomplishment of one institution. But it is also written to contribute to a broader understanding of the history of research and development laboratories in general and of the influence they have had on the course of modern American history. The work of the Naval Research Laboratory on radar is a significant episode in that story.

Publication Links

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