<p>In the United States, where the federal government is only moderately committed to cultural development, private sector entities function as support groups for cultural affairs. Corporations and foundations are major funding sources for museums. Although private sector money has a direct and sometimes enormous effect on collections, the participation of corporations and foundations in shaping history museum exhibitions and educational programs has been overlooked in museum studies. This article examines this critical and complementary history museum - private sector connection by focusing on the 2000 acquisition process for the George Washington Lansdowne portrait at the National Portrait Gallery. The NPG exhibits the history of the United States through portraits of extraordinary people. As part of the Smithsonian Institute, 60 to 70% of the NPG’s budget comes from the US government and the rest is raised through its own efforts. In other words the NPG is a quasi-governmental entity.</p><p>NPG acquired the Lansdowne portrait with the support of a private foundation. This full-length portrait painted by Gilbert Stuart in 1797 was a gift from a Philadelphian merchant to the Marquis of Lansdowne. It had been on loan to the NPG since the gallery’s opening in 1968. In the fall of 2000, the British owner of the work suddenly announced to the NPG that he would auction the painting unless the gallery purchased it. The NPG made a public appeal, describing the situation to potential donors as a national crisis. As a result, the Nevada-based Donald W. Reynolds Foundation saved the Lansdowne portrait from what they considered to be a patriotic crisis. Through the course of the purchase process, a painting that had been in a foreign collection for two centuries was transformed into a “national icon” and eventually a “national treasure,” revered as an equal to the Declaration of Independence and the Stars and Stripes. This private funding process not only saved the painting, it also altered its status.</p><p>It must also be noted that 9/11 changed the meaning of this portrait. George Washington has been endowed with various qualities through the centuries: he has been seen as everything from demi-god to ordinary father. Then, as symbolized by the fire fighters’ self-sacrificing behavior at Ground Zero, post 9/11 society came to view the Lansdowne Washington portrait as an image of a great self-sacrificing figure who led and saved a young nation.</p><p>As part of the process of receiving the considerable funds needed for the acquisition, the Lansdowne portrait went from being a loaned work displayed among other portraits to a national treasure and representation of patriot self-sacrifice. These changes result from the integrated and complementary collaboration between the NPG and a private foundation, a situation completely unlike the general perception of a hostile relationship between public and private interests. The Lansdowne acquisition case reveals how the private sector is not a mere funding source, but rather is a vital participant in the shaping and interpretation of history at museums.</p>