History is never ending. It is always present or past depending on your view point. The Smithsonian Institution is generally known simply as the Smithsonian. “For 175 years, the Smithsonian has fostered discovery using historic collections, cutting-edge research, in-depth scholarship, and innovative programming to help people learn about themselves and the worlds around them.” In reality it is an organization composed of a group of museums and research centers that was established by the U.S. government as a public trust. It was originally organized as the United States National Museum, but that name ceased to exist as an administrative entity in 1967.
James Smithson was a European scientist and founder of the Smithsonian institution. He was well known for his detailed experiments, publications and collections. Smithson left most of his wealth to his nephew Henry James Hungerford. Under Smithson’s will when Hungerford died the estate passed “to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution to increase & diffuse knowledge among men.”
Congress officially accepted the legacy bequeathed to the nation and pledged the faith of the United States to the charitable trust on July 1, 1836. The American diplomat Richard Rush was dispatched to England by President Andrew Jackson to collect the bequest. Rush returned in August 1838 with 105 sacks containing 104,960 gold sovereigns. This is approximately $500,000 at the time, which is equivalent to $12,152,000 in 2020.
Once the money was in hand, eight years of Congressional haggling ensued over how to interpret Smithson’s rather vague mandate “for the increase and diffusion of knowledge”. During this time the money was invested by the US Treasury in bonds issued by the state of Arkansas, which soon defaulted. After heated debate, Massachusetts representative John Quincy Adams persuaded Congress to restore the lost funds with interest and convinced his colleagues to preserve it for an institution of science and learning. Finally, on August 10, 1846, President James K. Polk signed the legislation that established the Smithsonian Institution as “a trust instrumentality of the United States, to be administered by a Board of Regents and a secretary of the Smithsonian.”
The Institute first met in Blodgett’s Hotel and later in the Treasury Department and City Hall, before being assigned a permanent home in 1824 in the Capitol building. Beginning in 1825, weekly sittings were arranged during sessions of Congress for the reading of scientific and literary productions, but this was short lived as attendance declined rapidly. Among all the activities planned, only a few were actually implemented. One was the establishment of a botanical garden (where the present Botanic Garden sits), and a museum that was designed to have a national and permanent status.
The Institute’s charter expired in 1838, but its spirit lived on in the National Institution which was founded in 1840. With the mission to “promote science and the useful arts, and to establish a national museum of natural history,” this organization continued to press Congress to establish a museum that would be structured in terms that were very similar to those finally incorporated into the founding of the Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian’s first secretary, Joseph Henry, wanted the institution to be a center for scientific research, but only became the depository for various Washington and U.S. government collections.
The cornerstone for the Smithsonian Institution Building was laid in 1847 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The Smithsonian, popularly known as the “Castle,” was designed by architect James Renwick, Jr. and constructed of red sandstone from Seneca Creek, Maryland, in the Norman style. Construction began in 1849 and opened in 1855. Its interiors were completed by general contractor Gilbert Cameron.
The Smithsonian’s first expansion came with the construction of the Arts and Industries Building in 1881. The National Zoological Park opened in 1889 to accommodate the Smithsonian’s Department of Living Animals.
The Smithsonian Institution has become the country’s richest repository of American history with 19 museums spread along the East Coast as well as the National Zoological Park. The Smithsonian has close ties with 168 museums in 39 states, Panama, and Puerto Rico. These museums are known as Smithsonian Affiliated museums. Collections are provided to these museums in the form of long-term loans. The Smithsonian also has a large number of traveling exhibitions, operated through the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.
From culture to science, zoos to space exploration, the federally-backed archive has spent nearly 200 years preserving and educating. The Smithsonian has morphed into the greatest hoarder the world has ever seen. Smithsonian Archives hold 156,830 cubic feet of archival material. The Institution’s various artifacts, specimens, and other arcana are believed to number in the neighborhood of 137 million, with an official museum estimate of 154 million. Just 1 percent of that is available for viewing at any given time. Libraries hold 2 million library volumes. The Collections Search Center has 9.9 million digital records available online.
Overtime there have been interesting finds hidden away. Hidden and lost for a time was a new species of dolphin. In 2016, two researchers stumbled across the skull of a 25-million-year-old river dolphin they named Arktocara yakataga. Said to have been found in Alaska, the dolphin may have dwelled in the Arctic. It was estimated that the skull sat on the shelf for 50 years before being identified.
At the height of U.S. involvement in World War II, museum curators knew that Axis forces would have designs on destroying the vibrant culture housed at the museum’s main location at the National Mall. To protect these irreplaceable items, the Smithsonian arranged to have them shipped to an undisclosed location—now known to be near Luray, Virginia—and stored in a climate-controlled warehouse. They didn’t return until 1944.
Smokey bear lived at the zoo. “Yes, that Smokey Bear. (And there’s no “the” in his name.) In 1950, a bear cub that survived a raging forest fire in Capitan, New Mexico, was adopted by the U.S. Forest Service and named Smokey after the popular ad campaign mascot of the era. As a living symbol of the effort, he spent his remaining 26 years at the National Zoo, a constant recipient of visitor attention and hundreds of jars of honey.”
The Smithsonian is wary of displaying human remains. While they’ve collected everything from shrunken heads to the “soap man”—a corpse whose body turned to a soap-like substance due to a chemical reaction to soil—most of it remains out of public view. Amidst many Smithsonian catalog items, nothing seems more odd than the 2014 inclusion of a 1982 Atari video game based on E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Dorothy’s ruby slippers from the 1939 film adaptation of The Wizard of Oz have become a Smithsonian trademark. As star Judy Garland wore several pairs during filming and the Smithsonian’s pair ended up being mismatched.
In 1904, some 75 years after his death in Italy, Smithson’s remains were about to be disturbed. The U.S. Smithsonian officials were alerted that his grave site would be displaced because of a nearby stone quarry expansion. The Institution took the opportunity to have his casket shipped to America so he could be interred at the Smithsonian itself. Escorted by Alexander Graham Bell, the casket traveled 14 days by sea. The body was entombed and topped off by a marker in the Smithsonian, where it remains viewable by the general public.
It would be nice to have the time to wander through the countless halls. So is your house a replica of the Smithsonian or just a comfortable museum?