Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated
museum complex, administered and funded by the
government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazine. Most of its facilities are located in
Washington, D.C., but its 19 museums and seven research centers includes sites in New York City, Virginia, Panama, and elsewhere. It has 142 million items in its collections.
A monthly
magazine published by the Smithsonian Institution is also named the
Smithsonian.
Encyclopedia
The
Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated
museum complex, administered and funded by the
government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazine. Most of its facilities are located in
Washington, D.C., but its 19 museums and seven research centers includes sites in New York City, Virginia, Panama, and elsewhere. It has 142 million items in its collections.
A monthly
magazine published by the Smithsonian Institution is also named the
Smithsonian.
History
The Smithsonian Institution was founded for the promotion and dissemination of knowledge by a bequest to the
United States by the
British scientist James Smithson , who had never visited the United States himself. In Smithson's will, he stated that should his nephew,
Henry James Hungerford, die without heirs, the Smithson estate would go to the
United States of America for creating an "Establishment for the increase & diffusion of Knowledge among men". After the nephew died without heirs in 1835, President
Andrew Jackson informed
Congress of the bequest, which amounted to 100,000
gold sovereigns, or $500,000
U.S. dollars .
Act of Congress: Eight years later, Congress passed an act establishing the Smithsonian Institution, a hybrid public/private partnership, and the act was signed into law on August 10, 1846 by
James Polk. The bill was drafted by
Indiana Democratic Congressman Robert Dale Owen, a
Socialist and son of
Robert Owen, the father of the
cooperative movement.
The castellated architecture of the
Smithsonian Institution Building on the
National Mall has made it known informally as "The Castle". It was built by architect
James Renwick, Jr. and completed in 1855. Many of the other buildings are also historical and architectural landmarks.
Though the Smithsonian's first secretary, Joseph Henry, wanted the Institution to be a center for scientific research, before long it became the depository for various Washington and U.S. government collections.
The voyage of the
U.S. Navy circumnavigated the globe between 1838 and 1842. The United States Exploring Expedition amassed thousands of animal specimens, an herbarium of 50,000 examples, shells and minerals, tropical birds, jars of seawater and ethnographic specimens from the South Pacific.
The military and civilian surveys in the American West assembled many
Native American artifacts as well as natural history specimens.
The Institution became a magnet for natural scientists from 1857 to 1866, who formed a group called the Megatherium Club.
The
asteroid 3773 Smithsonian is named in honor of the Institution.
Administration
The Smithsonian Institution is established as a trust by act of Congress, and it is functionally and legally a body of the federal government. More than two-thirds of the Smithsonian's workforce of some 6,300 persons are employees of the federal government. The Smithsonian is represented by attorneys from the
United States Department of Justice in litigation, and money judgments against the Smithsonian are also paid out of the federal treasury.
Federal courts have furthermore concluded that the Smithsonian is part of the United States government within the meaning of such statutes as the Tucker Act and the Federal Tort Claims Act. It is also treated as part of the United States government when defending against copyright infringement claims, which means that such actions must be brought before the
United States Court of Federal Claims..
The nominal head of the Institution is the Chancellor, an office which has always been held by the current
Chief Justice of the United States. The affairs of the Smithsonian are conducted by its 17-member board of regents, eight members of which constitute a quorum for the conduct of business. Eight of the regents are United States officials: the
Vice President and the Chief Justice of the United States, three United States Senators appointed by the Vice President in his capacity as President of the Senate, and three Members of the
U.S. House of Representatives appointed by the
Speaker of the House. The remaining nine regents are "persons other than Members of Congress," who are appointed by joint resolution of Congress. Regents are allowed reimbursement for their expenses in connection with attendance at meetings, but their service as regents is uncompensated. The day-to-day operations of the Smithsonian are supervised by a salaried "Secretary" chosen by the board of regents.
Secretaries of the Smithsonian
- Joseph Henry, 1846–1878
- Spencer Fullerton Baird, 1878–1887
- Samuel Pierpont Langley, 1887–1906
- Charles Doolittle Walcott, 1907–1927
- Charles Greeley Abbot, 1928–1944
- Alexander Wetmore, 1944–1952
- Leonard Carmichael, 1953–1964
- Sidney Dillon Ripley, 1964–1984
- Robert McCormick Adams, 1984–1994
- I. Michael Heyman, 1994–1999
- Lawrence M. Small, 2000–
See .Smithsonian museums
Smithsonian research centers
The following is a list of Smithsonian research centers, with their affiliated museum in parentheses.
- Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the associated Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
- Carrie-Bow Marine Field Station
- Center For Earth and Planetary Studies
- Conservation and Research Center
- Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
- Marine Station at Fort Pierce
- Migratory Bird Center
- Museum Conservation Institute
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
- Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries
- Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Notes
* O'Rourke v. Smithsonian Inst. Press, 399 F.3d 113 , cert. denied, No. 04-1481, 2005 U.S. LEXIS 5550 . This court decision also summarizes the history of the Institution, the composition of the Board of Regents, its interrelationship with the federal government, and prior court rulings regarding the Institution's treatment as a body of the government under various federal laws.
External links
- presents , a publicly accessible digital resource intended to enlighten and interest the general reader. It does not represent an attempt to summarize all science, or even all branches of science on which the Smithsonian can speak with authority. It will, however, acquaint the reader with the organization, history, and activities of the scientific institution which has grown up with the nation and fostered the nation's scientific activities. It is an introduction to the workings and achievements of the scientific method over a large field, and may open doors to some branches of science.
Further reading
- Nina Burleigh, Stranger and the Statesman: James Smithson, John Quincy Adams, and the Making of America's Greatest Museum, The Smithsonian, HarperCollins, September 2003, hardcover, 288 pages, ISBN 0-06-000241-7
- Z. Herskovits, To the Smithsonian or Bust: The Scientific Legacy of Nikola Tesla, Yale Scientific Magazine, V. 71, Issue 4
