The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History provides this site, a glimpse of Puerto Rican history and culture as seen through 175 artifacts from the 3,200-artifact collection of Teodoro Vidal, an aide to Puerto Rico's first governor Luis Munoz Marin. Vidal's collecting activities span more than 40 years, and his artifacts date from the 18th through the 20th centuries. The collection can be browsed or searched (the easiest access to the entire collection is through the index browse), and it is contextualized through explanatory sections on Puerto Rican history, religion, every day life, carnivals, music, tourism, and "the Great Puerto Rican family."