The Smithsonian Institution is a museum complex with most of its facilities in Washington D.C.. It consists of 16 museums, 7 research centers and 142 million items in its collections.

A monthly magazine published by the Smithsonian Institution is also named Smithsonian.

History

"The Castle."

The Smithsonian Institution was founded for the promotion and dissemination of knowledge by a bequest to the United States by James Smithson (1765-1829). In James 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 establishing an institution "for the increase and 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 ($8,790,303 in current 2004 U.S. dollars after inflation). Eight years later, Congress passed an act establishing the Smithsonian Institution 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 Smithsonian Institution is established as a trust administered by a secretary and board of regents. The nominal head of the institute is the Chancellor, an office which has always been held by the current Chief Justice of the United States. Serving as a member of the board of regents is one of the very few official legal duties of the Vice President of the United States.

The Information Center in the central complex has architecture reminiscent of a castle and is known informally as "The Castle". It was built by architect James Renwick, Jr. and completed in 1855. Many of the other buildings are landmarks and feature other distinctive architectural styles.

The asteroid 3773 Smithsonian is named in honor of the institution.

Secretaries of the Smithsonian

1. Joseph Henry – 1846-1878
2. Spencer Fullerton Baird – 1878-1887
3. Samuel Pierpont Langley – 1887-1906
4. Charles Doolittle Walcott – 1907-1927
5. Charles Greeley Abbot – 1928-1944
6. Alexander Wetmore – 1944-1952
7. Leonard Carmichael – 1953-1964
8. Sidney Dillon Ripley – 1964-1984
9. Robert McCormick Adams – 1984-1994
10. I. Michael Heyman – 1994-1999
11. Lawrence M. Small – 2000-present

See: The Secretaries of the Smithsonian Institution

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 0060002417

List of Smithsonian museums

• American Art Museum
• Anacostia Museum
• Arts and Industries Building
• The Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
• Freer Gallery of Art
• Hirshhorn Museum
• National Air and Space Museum
• National Gallery of Art (affiliated, though under a separate charter)
• National Museum of African Art
• National Museum of American History
• National Museum of the American Indian
• National Museum of Natural History
• National Portrait Gallery
• National Postal Museum
• National Zoo (Smithsonian National Zoological Park)
• Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
• Smithsonian Institution Building

List of Smithsonian research centers

• Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
• Carrie-Bow Marine Field Station
• Center For Earth and Planetary Studies
• Environmental Research Center
• Marine Station at Fort Pierce
• Migratory Bird Center
• Tropical Research Institute

External links

• Smithsonian Institution webpage