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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 275 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION , an See also:

American institution of learning in See also:Washington, D.C., founded by the See also:bequest of See also:James See also:Smithson (q.v.), who seems to have known of See also:Joel See also:Barlow's See also:plan for a See also:national institution of learning in the See also:city of Washing-ton in accordance with See also:George Washington's recommendation in his farewell address of 1796. His See also:estate was See also:left to a See also:nephew, See also:Henry James See also:Hungerford, with the stipulation that should Hungerford See also:die without issue the whole estate should go " to the See also:United States of See also:America to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an See also:establishment for the increase and See also:diffusion of knowledge among men." See also:Hunger-See also:ford died without issue in 1835. There was much opposition in America to the See also:acceptance of Smithson's bequest, especially by See also:John C. See also:Calhoun and others who held that See also:Congress had no See also:power under the Constitution to accept such a See also:gift, but the gift was accepted, largely through the efforts of John See also:Quincy See also:Adams; and See also:Richard See also:Rush, sent to See also:England as See also:agent for the United States, quickly obtained a See also:verdict for the American claim to the estate. In See also:September 1838 £104,960 in See also:gold sovereigns was delivered from the clipper " Mediator to the See also:Philadelphia See also:mint, where it was recoined into American See also:money, $508,318-46; in 1867, after the See also:death of Hungerford's See also:mother, a residuary See also:legacy of $26,210 was received and the fund then Amounted to $65o,000. An See also:act of the 7th of See also:July 1838 (repealed in 1841) directed the investment of the money in See also:state bonds, and $500,000 was invested in See also:Arkansas bonds which proved worthless, but Congress, considering that it was a trustee of the fund, made an See also:appropriation to See also:cover the loss. By other gifts, notably that of $216,000 from See also:Thomas George Hodgkins (d. 1892) of Setauket, See also:Long See also:Island, New See also:York, the fund was increased : in 1910 it amounted to $944,918, See also:drawing See also:interest at 6%. There were many different suggestions as to how the fund should be used. The See also:character of the National See also:Institute (called National Institution before 1843), which was organized in 184o " to promote See also:science and the useful arts and to establish a national museum of See also:history," had a See also:great See also:influence in shaping the act (approved on the loth of See also:August 1846) establishing the Smithsonian Institution and providing for an "establishment " by this name composed of the See also:president, See also:vice-president, secretaries of state, See also:treasury, See also:war and See also:navy, the postmaster-See also:general, the See also:attorney-general,' the See also:chief-See also:justice of the supreme See also:court and the See also:commissioner of the patent See also:office of the United States, the See also:mayor of the city of Washington (amended in 1871 to read: See also:governor of the See also:District of See also:Columbia), and such other persons as they may elect honorary members .2 The same act provided for the See also:government of the Institution by a See also:Board of Regents composed of the vice-president of the United States, the mayor of the city of Washington (amended in 1871 as above), three members of the See also:Senate (appointed by its president), three members of the See also:House of Representatives ° (appointed by its See also:speaker), two members of the National Institute of the City of Washington (chosen by See also:joint See also:resolution of the Senate and House of Representatives), and four others, inhabitants of four different states; the Board See also:chose from its members a See also:chancellor (in practice the vice-president of the United States until 185o and since then the chief-justice). The act provided for the delivery to the Board of Regents and the See also:maintenance in the buildings, which were to be erected according to the act, of " all See also:objects of See also:art and of See also:foreign and curious See also:research, and all objects of natural history," &c., belonging to the United States, including the collections of Smithson; and it enacted that any applicant for See also:copyright should deliver one copy of the See also:work to be copyrighted to the librarian of the Smithsonian Institution and another to the Librarian of Congress .° Thanks to the efforts of J. Q.

Adams, See also:

provision was made for the use of the income of the fund only and the See also:principal was permanently invested. The Regents met on the 7th of September 1846. Those appointed were: George See also:Evans, See also:Sidney Breese and See also:Isaac S. Pennybacker, senators; See also:Robert See also:Dale See also:Owen, See also:William J. Hough and Henry W. See also:Hilliard, members of the House of Representatives; See also:Rufus See also:Choate, See also:Gideon See also:Hawley, Richard Rush and William C. See also:Preston, by joint resolution, from four different states; and See also:Alexander See also:Dallas See also:Bache and General See also:Joseph G. Totten, from the National Institute. They elected (See also:Dee. 1846) as first secretary and director of the Institution, Joseph Henry, then See also:professor of natural See also:philosophy in the See also:College of New See also:Jersey (See also:Princeton University), who presented in his first See also:annual See also:report (Dec. 1847) a "program of organization:" The first See also:paragraph contained the following:—" To Increase Know-ledge: It is proposed (I) to stimulate men of See also:talent to make See also:original researches, by offering suitable rewards for See also:memoirs containing new truths; and (2) to appropriate annually a portion of the income for particular researches, under the direction of ' The Secretary of the Interior was added in 1877 and the Secretary of See also:Agriculture in 1894. t No honorary members have been chosen since 1873, and an See also:amendment of 1894 omits the provision for their See also:election.

' In See also:

January 1847 James D. See also:Westcott objected to the constitutionality of the act because by it members of Congress were appointed (contrary to See also:section 6, See also:part ii. of the Constitution) to See also:civil offices under the authority of the United States created during their See also:term of office in Congress. In 1865 the actual granting of copyright was transferred from the Smithsonian Institution to the Library of Congress. ' Reprinted in Smithsonian Institution See also:Miscellaneous Collections, vol. xYi. PP. 399-406. INSTITUTION suitable persons. To Diffuse Knowledge: It is proposed (z) to publish a See also:series of periodical reports on the progress of different branches of knowledge; and (2) to publish occasionally See also:separate See also:treatises on subjects of general interest." Henry was executive See also:head (secretary) of the Institution from 1846 until his death in 1878 and its organization is due largely to him. He opposed the See also:scheme for the See also:gradual formation of a general library under the See also:charge of the Institution, and in 1855 committed the Board of Regents to a See also:repeal of the previous practice of spending one-See also:half of the annual income on the museum and library, and this See also:action was approved by an investigating congressional See also:committee.' Partly because of the prominence given to meteorological research when Henry was at the See also:Albany See also:Academy, and partly through the influence of James See also:Pollard Espy (1785-186o), in 1846 a plan was presented for the unification and systematization of See also:weather observation under the Institution, and in See also:December 1847 an appropriation was made for such meteorological research ; in 1849 telegraphic transmission of meteorological intelligence collected by the Institution was begun; in 185o a See also:standard " Smithsonian See also:barometer " (See also:Arnold See also:Guyot's improvement of See also:Ernst's improved Fortin " cistern barometer ") was first distributed; weather maps were successfully made in 1856; and in 187o the meteorological work of the Institution was incorporated as the Weather See also:Bureau, See also:independent of the Institution. After 1854 Henry's annual reports contained a " general appendix " with reports of lectures, such as were held under the auspices of the Institution until 1865, summaries of See also:correspondence, See also:special papers, &c. Before 187o See also:meteorology bulked largely in these reports; after that See also:year there was more See also:North American See also:archaeology and See also:ethnology. See also:Spencer F.

See also:

Baird, Henry's successor, incorporated in the general appendix annual reports on the progress of the sciences; and he perfected Henry's See also:system of " See also:international exchanges," under which the Institution, through agents in the principal cities of See also:Europe, ex-changes its own publications, those of other departments of the United States government, and those of learned See also:societies for foreign publications. Baird had been at the head of the United States National Museum, a See also:branch of the Institution, before he became secretary of the Institution, and it was particularly See also:developed during his See also:administration. It was built up around the collections of the United States Patent Office, which were turned over to it in 1858, and those of the National Institute, transferred to the Smithsonian Institution in 1861, when the Institute was dissolved. A part of the collection (including Smithson's collection) was destroyed by See also:fire in 1865. The small art collection which remained was exhibited in the Corcoran See also:Gallery until 1896. A new See also:building for the Museum was erected in 1881. Mrs Harriet See also:Lane See also:Johnston (1833-1903) left her art collection to a national gallery of art, when such a gallery should be established, and in 1906 the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia decreed that the art collection of the National Museum was a " National Gallery " and turned this collection over to the National Museum, whose art collections have been called since that See also:time the National Gallery of Art and have been enlarged by the.gift from See also:Charles L. Freer of See also:Detroit of more than 2300 pieces (since 1904), including the work of American artists (especially See also:Whistler, See also:Tryon and T. W. See also:Dewing) and of See also:Japanese and See also:Chinese masters, and by the gift of about 90 American paintings from W. T. Evans of New York City.

The museum gained much valuable archaeological and ethnological material from the exploring parties sent out under J. W. See also:

Powell, excellent ichthyological specimens through Baird's position as United States See also:Fish Commissioner, and general collections from the exhibits made at the Centennial See also:Exhibition of 1876 by the United States government; and it has a See also:good See also:herbarium. The Bureau of American Ethnology was established as a branch of the Institution in 1879, when the various organizations doing survey work in the See also:West united as the United States See also:Geological Survey and anthropological and ethnological research was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution. The director of the Bureau of Ethnology in 1879-1902 was J. W. Powell; he was succeeded by William H. See also:Holmes. Secretary Baird planned an astrophysical See also:observatory and in 1887 appointed as assistant secretary of the Institution, to take charge of the observatory, See also:Samuel P. See also:Langley (q.v.) who succeeded as secretary' upon Baird's death in the same year. In 1890 a small observatory was built in the Smithsonian See also:Park; in 1891 an appropriation was made for astrophysical work and $soon was contributed by the executors of Dr J. H.

Kidder (1842-1889). Langley's principal research in the observatory was on the nature of the infra-red portion of the spectrum. His name is also closely connected with his See also:

paper entitled Experiments in Aerodynamics (1891), and with the experiments and mathematical studies carried on under the Institution which proved that a See also:machine other than a See also:balloon could be made which would produce enough See also:mechanical power to support itself and See also:fly. Under the terms of the Hodgkins bequest prizes were ° Congress was long jealous of the power of the Board of Regents; and in Congress there was for many years open opposition notably on the part of See also:Andrew See also:Johnson, to the very existence of the Institution. In January 1907, after Langley's death, Charles Doolittle See also:Walcott (b. 185o), a geologist, director of the U.S. Geological Survey in 1894-1907, became secretary of the Institution. offered in 1893 for research and investigation of atmospheric See also:air in connexion with the welfare of mankind; in 1895 an See also:award of $10,000 was made to See also:Lord See also:Rayleigh and See also:Sir William See also:Ramsay for their See also:discovery of See also:argon; and a See also:medal was awarded to Sir James See also:Dewar in 1899 and one to Sir J. J. See also:Thomson in 1901. During Langley's administration the American See also:Historical Association was incorporated in 1889 as a branch of the Institution, to whose secretary it makes its annual reports; and the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution was similarly incorporated in 1896. By acts of Congress of the 2nd of See also:March 1889 and the 30th of See also:April 1890 the National Zoological Park was established under the Institution; and in a park of 266 acres in the valley of See also:Rock See also:Creek a small collection was installed.

In Langley's Annual Reports the summaries of the advance of science were omitted in 1889 and thereafter special papers of interest to professional students were published in their See also:

place. The Smithsonian Park occupies a square See also:equivalent to nine city blocks, almost exactly the same See also:size as the Capitol grounds. The See also:oldest building, that of the Institution proper, was erected in 1847-1855; it is See also:Seneca See also:brown See also:stone in a mingled See also:Gothic and Romanesque See also:style, designed by James See also:Renwick, and occupies the S.W. corner of the grounds. E. of it is the building of the United States National Museum (330 ft. sq.), erected in 1881; and on the N. See also:side of the park is the new building of the National Museum (1903). On the grounds is a See also:bronze statue of Joseph Henry by W. W. See also:Story. The Institution publishes: Annual Reports (1846 seq.), in which the Reports of the National Museum were included until 1884—since then they appeared as " part ii." of that Report; The Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge (See also:quarto, 1848 sqq.); The Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections (octavos, 1862 sqq.); Proceedings of the United States National Museum (1878 sqq.); Bulletin of the United States National Museum (1875 sqq.), containing larger monographs than those printed in the Proceedings; and occasional Special Bulletins; Annual Reports of the Bureau of American Ethnology (188o sqq.); Bulletin (1877 sqq.), including The Handbook of American See also:Indians North of See also:Mexico (1907), part i. being Bulletin 30; and Contributions to North American Ethnology (1877 sqq.) ; See also:Annals of the Astrophysical Observatory (1900 sqq.); and Annual Reports of the American Historical Association (1890 sqq.).

End of Article: SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

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