Within the fourth floor of the John A. Wilson Building, between D.C. councilmembers’ offices and meeting rooms, is a curiously curated collection of 17 photographs that comes courtesy of the city’s first art museum.

The exhibit, Serendipity D.C., features photographs either about the District or taken by local artists from the original collection of the now-closed Corcoran Gallery.

When the Corcoran dissolved in October 2014 in a merger with George Washington University and the National Gallery of Art, the National Gallery of Art had first pick of the private museum’s nearly 20,000-piece collection. After the National Gallery absorbed 8,631 works, the remainder of the collection was to be distributed to 22 different D.C. institutions, including Howard University, American University, the National Gallery of Women in the Arts, and the Supreme Court.

Director of communications and public information officer for the D.C. Council Josh Gibson says that when he started working with the Council six years ago, Chairman Phil Mendelson expressed an interest in including more historical and artistic artifacts in the Wilson Building.

“When I was hired, Chairman Mendelson knew that I was a history buff, just like he’s a history buff, and he had always wanted to make the Wilson building more interactive with visitors and more of a showcase for the historical and artistic resources that the government has,” Gibson says. (In 2016, Gibson solved the mystery of a gold leaf plaque with nearly 2,000 names that Councilmember Vincent Grey had discovered in a closet of the building, concluding that it was a list of D.C. government employees who served in World War II.)

With the Corcoran collection’s remaining 10,750 pieces to be dispersed amongst D.C.-based institution, Gibson requested that the Wilson Building absorb 64 of the 146 D.C.-relevant works. Of those, the institution received the 17 different works that now make up Serendipity D.C.

“It’s a cool little exhibit because other than the unifying element of D.C., it’s a kind of charmingly odd ball collection of photos,” Gibson says. “We’re just so thrilled and grateful that we got anything from the collection.”

Nearly half the photographs were by former Washington Post photographer and native Washingtonian Arthur Ellis. There’s also one in there by former Second Lady Tipper Gore and another by photographer Oi Veerasarn, who was also a well-known actor in Thailand.

The new art installment at the Wilson Building joins other historic art pieces in the building, like the two “tagged” pieces of D.C. graffiti artist Cool Disco Dan (one of which is also a part of the original Corcoran collection, owned by American University and on a permanent loan to the Council.)

The Serendipity D.C. exhibit is open to the public during the building’s weekday hours, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.