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"Welcome Back, Kotter" is in the Smithsonian. So are "The Bionic Woman," "Return of the Jedi," Bobby Sherman and Kiss.

The National Museum of American History recently opened a display that honors the lunchbox as more than a tote to carry a sandwich. "Taking America to Lunch" displays 134 metal lunchboxes and vacuum bottles to give them their due as cultural symbols, exhibit curator David Shayts says.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Thermos' availability to the public. It was that company that popularized the metal lunchbox after World War II. The display traces the evolution of the metal lunchbox from a worker's simple lidded bucket to a child's expression of a favorite team, show or sport.

"Sure, lunchboxes are empty boxes, but they evoke memories of childhood, school, food and nourishment," Mr. Shayts says. "Lunchboxes are also an outward evocation of culture."

Lunchboxes are being honored with two themes in mind, he says. The use of metal, which has largely been replaced by other materials, is a reminder of the steel industry's domination in the early and mid-20th century. Outwardly, the use of characters and other pop icons on lunchboxes made the boxes one of the first important mass-marketing tools of the TV era.

"The shows are gone, but the lunchboxes remain," Mr. Shayts says. "This exhibit is about the golden age of lunchboxes. Even if metal lunchboxes come back, there will never be another period when they reign over the schoolroom."

The display is located appropriately along the entrance to the museum's Main Street Cafe. While patrons stand in line, they can take a look at long-lost characters and smile at the memories of fourth grade, of Twinkies and of a time when Cheez Whiz on Wonder Bread was considered a well-rounded meal.

That is what Steve Stampfer, 37, of Stafford, was doing one recent afternoon as he toured the museum with daughters Tiffany, 8, and Lindsay, 4. He was explaining to the girls - who carry plastic lunchboxes to school - who Mork and Mindy and the Partridge Family were.

"I was just telling them, 'Before juice boxes, we had to carry our drinks in a Thermos,' " Mr. Stampfer says.

The display is divided into three sections. The first shows the lunchbox as a merchandiser's gold mine as television transformed it from a food conveyance into a storyteller.

Here is where you can find, among others, "The Flintstones," "The Muppets," "Lassie" and "Lost in Space."

Lunchboxes also were about action, as the next case explains. "Batman and Robin," "Dick Tracy" and "Star Trek" are among the lunchboxes that got action-loving boys dreaming of far-off galaxies and battling the bad guys. The Cold War had an impact on lunchboxes that displayed scenes of combat and foreign intrigue.

Finally, the display of metal lunchboxes captures a people and time that have slipped away. By the 1980s, metal was replaced by less costly synthetic materials.

The end of the era meant the disco, Pele, "Peanuts" and "Fat Albert" boxes became museum relics instead of the means to transport a bologna sandwich.

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