Museums

Museums are an important part of their communities. Many museums provide support and opportunities for lifelong learning, making them an ideal source for citizenship education and outreach initiatives designed for immigrants interested in learning more about naturalization and to educate the general public about citizenship and immigration in the United States. Museums often encourage civic engagement as well, which can include not only learning about U.S. history and government, but also about what it means to be an active and responsible citizen. Additionally, museums may have historical displays, collections, and artifacts that are relevant to civics education and to the themes and content that immigrants preparing for citizenship need to learn for the naturalization test.

Through our joint effort with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), we seek to support museums by offering public information and engagement opportunities, and by distributing educational materials and training resources on immigration and citizenship.

What Museums Can Do to Participate

1. Include exhibits on citizenship and immigration, such as a display on the immigration experience, as part of larger museum programming. Incorporate artifacts from your collection to tell the story.

2. Explore the list of available citizenship education resources on the USCIS Citizenship Resource Center. Some key resources include:

   • Learn About Naturalization. Understand the process of becoming a U.S. citizen.

   • Official list of civics questions and answers (PDF, 296 KB) for the naturalization test. During the naturalization interview, applicants will be asked up to 10 questions from the list of 100 questions in English. Applicants must answer correctly 6 of the 10 questions to pass the civics test.

   • Preparing for the Oath: U.S. History and Civics for Citizenship. This interactive website helps individuals learn about U.S. history and civics while exploring museum objects from the Smithsonian Institution.

3. Host USCIS administrative naturalization ceremonies. Many museums feature beautiful spaces and ideal locations for hosting naturalization ceremonies. Ceremonies can be hosted at a full range of museum types – not only historic houses and history museums that might have a direct connection to U.S. history and government themes – but also children’s museums and art museums, as well as aquariums, planetariums, and zoos.

   • If you are interested in hosting a naturalization ceremony at your museum, contact your local USCIS community relations officer (PDF, 114 KB).

4. Link to USCIS citizenship resources by adding a widget to your website. The USCIS widgets are small online applications in English and Spanish that can be embedded on social media sites, blogs, or other webpages to direct users to USCIS web content.

5. Host a tour for a local citizenship class. Use the class locator tool on our website to find community-based organizations that serve immigrants and offer citizenship classes in your community. Invite the class to visit your museum as part of their citizenship curriculum.

6. Attend or host a teacher training. USCIS provides free training workshops for adult educators on how to teach U.S. history and civics to immigrants.

   • Find out more information about upcoming training seminars.

   • If you are interested in hosting a training event at your museum, contact the USCIS Office of Citizenship at office.of.citizenship@uscis.dhs.gov.

7. Contact IMLS or your local USCIS community relations officer (PDF, 114 KB) for further information and guidance on the support and opportunities available for museums.

8. Sign up for free email alerts with important news and information from USCIS. First, enter your email address. Then, under the “Outreach” topic, put a check mark next to “Updates from USCIS-IMLS.”