Editing Smithsonian Institution (section)

==Founding ==
[[File:Washington, D.C., April 1865 34773v.jpg|thumb|200px|The Castle in April 1865]]
[[File:Smithsonian Building NR.jpg|thumb|200px|"[[Smithsonian Institution Building|The Castle]]" (built, 1847) on the [[National Mall]]: the institution's earliest building remains its headquarters.|alt=]]

In many ways, the origin of the Smithsonian Institution can be traced to a group of Washington citizens who, being "impressed with the importance of forming an association for promoting useful knowledge," met on June 28, 1816, to establish the [[Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences]]. Officers were elected in October 1816, and the organization was granted a charter by Congress on April 20, 1818 (this charter expired in 1838). [[Benjamin Latrobe]], who was architect for the US Capitol after the War of 1812, and [[William Thornton]], the architect who designed [[the Octagon House]] and [[Tudor Place]], would serve as officers. Other prominent members, who numbered from 30 to 70 during the institute's existence, included [[John Quincy Adams]], [[Andrew Jackson]], [[Henry Clay]], Judge [[William Cranch]], and [[James Hoban]]. Honorary members included [[James Madison]], [[James Monroe]], [[John Adams]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], and the [[Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette|Marquis de Lafayette]]. Operating expenses were covered from the $5 yearly dues collected from each member.

The institute proposed a number of undertakings. These included the study of plant life and the creation of a botanical garden on the [[National Mall]], an examination of the country's mineral production, improvement in the management and care of livestock, and the writing of a topographical and statistical history of the United States. Reports were to be published periodically to share this knowledge with the greater public, but due to a lack of funds, this initially did not occur. The institute first met in Blodget's Hotel, 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 continued for only a short time, as the number attending declined rapidly. Eighty-five communications by 26 people were made to Congress during the entire life of the society, with more than a half relating to astronomy or mathematics. Among all the activities planned by the institute, only a few were actually implemented. Two were the establishment of a botanical garden, and a museum that was designed to have a national and permanent status. The former occupied space where the present [[United States Botanic Garden|Botanic Garden]] sits.

The museum contained specimens of zoology, botany, archeology, fossils, etc., some of which were passed on to the Smithsonian Institution after its formation. The institute's charter expired in 1838, but its spirit lived on in the [[National Institute for the Promotion of Science|National Institution]], 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. Its work helped to develop an underlying philosophy that pushed for the pursuit and development of scientific knowledge that would benefit the nation, and edify its citizens at the same time.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Guide to the Columbian Institute in the Special Collections Research Center |url=https://library.gwu.edu/sites/default/files/scrc/Columbian_Institute.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210725102045/https://library.gwu.edu/sites/default/files/scrc/Columbian_Institute.pdf |archive-date=July 25, 2021 |access-date=July 30, 2021 |publisher=Special Collections Research Center Gelman Library, George Washington University}}</ref>

The British scientist [[James Smithson]] (1765–1829) left most of his wealth to his nephew Henry James Hungerford. When Hungerford died childless in 1835,<ref name=nephewdead>{{cite book|last=Goode|first=George Brown |title=The Smithsonian Institution, 1846–1896, The History of Its First Half Century.|year=1897|publisher=De Vinne Press|location=Washington, D.C.|page=25|url= http://siris-sihistory.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=133GO29212E47.369&profile=sicall&source=~!sichronology&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!464~!16&ri=1&aspect=power&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=smithson+james&index=.SW&uindex=&aspect=power&menu=search&ri=1&limitbox_1=LO01+=+sch&ultype=.YW&uloper=%3C&ullimit=1966|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121212194644/http://siris-sihistory.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=133GO29212E47.369&profile=sicall&source=~!sichronology&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!464~!16&ri=1&aspect=power&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=smithson+james&index=.SW&uindex=&aspect=power&menu=search&ri=1&limitbox_1=LO01+=+sch&ultype=.YW&uloper=%3C&ullimit=1966|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 12, 2012}}</ref> the estate passed "to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for the increase & diffusion of knowledge among men", in accordance with Smithson's will.<ref name="will">{{cite web |first1=James |last1=Smithson |title=Last Will and Testament |date=October 23, 1826 |url=http://siarchives.si.edu/history/exhibits/documents/smithsonwill.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110824051624/http://siarchives.si.edu/history/exhibits/documents/smithsonwill.htm |archive-date=August 24, 2011 |access-date=October 4, 2012 |location= Smithsonian Scrapbook: Letters, Diaries and Photographs from the Smithsonian Archives |website= Smithsonian Institution}}</ref> 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.<ref name=foundingfactsheet>{{cite web|title=Founding of the Smithsonian Institution|url=http://newsdesk.si.edu/factsheets/founding-smithsonian-institution|website= Smithsonian Institution |date=July 1, 2009 |access-date=October 4, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120901160155/http://newsdesk.si.edu/factsheets/founding-smithsonian-institution|archive-date=September 1, 2012}}</ref> 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 sovereign]]s. This is approximately $500,000 at the time, which is {{Inflation|US|500000|1838|r=-6|fmt=eq}} or {{Inflation|UK|104960|1838|r=-6|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}. However, when considering the GDP at the time it may be more comparable to $220&nbsp;million in the year 2007.<ref>{{cite book| first= Heather |last= Ewing| title= The Lost World of James Smithson: Science, Revolution, and the Birth of the Smithsonian| pages= 323–24, 330, 409}} Ewing notes that it would be the equivalent of over $10 million today, using one index, but using a per-capita share of GDP, it would be the equivalent of over $220 million. It was close to the total of [[Harvard University]]'s endowment at that point, which had accumulated for nearly 200 years by the 1830s and was not the result of a single gift, as Smithson's was.</ref><ref name=gardens>{{cite book|last=Ottesen|first=Carole| title=A Guide to Smithsonian Gardens| year=2011|publisher=Smithsonian Books|isbn=978-1-58834-300-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/guidetosmithsoni0000otte/page/13 13]|url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/guidetosmithsoni0000otte/page/13}}</ref>

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."<ref name="foundingfactsheet" /><ref name="gardens" /> The money was invested by the US Treasury in bonds issued by the state of Arkansas, which soon defaulted. After heated debate, Massachusetts representative (and former president) [[John Quincy Adams]] persuaded Congress to restore the lost funds with interest<ref>{{cite book| title= Smithsonian Information Brochure| publisher= Smithsonian Institution| location= Smithsonian Visitor Information and Associates' Reception Center| date= May 2009}}</ref> and, despite designs on the money for other purposes, convinced his colleagues to preserve it for an institution of science and learning.<ref>{{cite book| last= Nagel| first= Paul |year= 1999| title= John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, a Private Life| publisher= Harvard University Press| page= 348| isbn= }}</ref> 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.<ref name="foundingfactsheet" /><ref>{{usstat|9|102}}</ref>