‘Breaking Bad’ Memorabilia Move Into Smithsonian Museum

November 11, 2015 9:07am PT by THR Staff

"If you had told me there'd be crystal meth in the same museum as The Star-Spangled Banner, Thomas Edison's light bulb, Abraham Lincoln's pocket watch and Dorothy's ruby slippers, I'd have told you you were using too much of Walter White's product."

Breaking Bad is the one who knocks — and The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History is answering.

The museum is adding more than 10 objects from the critically-acclaimed AMC series from Vince Gilligan to its collection, recognizing the show's influence on American culture.

Gilligan reunited with cast members Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul Dean Norris, Jonathan Banks and RJ Mitte at the Washington, D.C. museum on Tuesday to donate the memorabilia, including clothes, Tyvek suits and gas masks worn by Walter White and Jesse Pinkman and notable props like bags of blue meth and Los Pollos Hermanos cups.

"If you had told me there'd be crystal meth in the same museum as The Star-Spangled Banner, Thomas Edison's light bulb, Abraham Lincoln's pocket watch and Dorothy's ruby slippers, I'd have told you you were using too much of Walter White's product," said Gilligan at the commemorative ceremony, reports USA Today.

Other notable items added from the series, which won 16 Emmys throughout its six-season run, include the notorious black "Heisenberg" hat, Hank Schrader's DEA ID card, a "Better Call Saul" matchbook and a purple corkscrew used by Marie Schrader, as well as the sketch of Heisenberg from the season-three episode No Más.

Though not currently on display, the pieces join the museum's growing collection, which also has items from Mad Men, The Wonder Years, Seinfeld and All in the Family. However, the museum is developing an exhibition exploring American culture (including its TV influences) that is scheduled to open in 2018.