Editing James Smithson (section)

===Relocation of Smithson's remains to Washington===
[[File:James Smithson remains - IMG 1940.JPG|thumb|left|upright|Smithson's crypt in Washington]]
Smithson was buried in Sampierdarena, [[Genoa]], Italy. The United States consul in Genoa was asked to maintain the grave site, with sponsorship for its maintenance coming from the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Secretary [[Samuel P. Langley]] visited the site, contributing further money to maintain it and requested a plaque be designed for the grave site. Three plaques were created by [[William Ordway Partridge]]. One was placed at the grave site, a second at a Protestant chapel in Genoa, and the last was gifted to Pembroke College, Oxford. Only one of the plaques exists today. The plaque at the grave site was stolen and then replaced with a marble version. During World War II, the Protestant chapel was destroyed and the plaque was looted. A copy was eventually placed at the site in 1963.<ref name=grave/>

The cemetery where Smithson rested was going to be moved in 1905, for the expansion of an adjacent quarry. In response, [[Alexander Graham Bell]], then a regent of the Smithsonian, proposed that Smithson's remains be moved to the [[Smithsonian Institution Building]]; in 1903, he and his wife, [[Mabel Gardiner Hubbard]], traveled to Genoa to exhume the body. A steamship departed Genoa on 7 January 1904 with the remains and arrived in [[Hoboken, New Jersey]] on 20 January, where they were transferred to the {{USS|Dolphin|PG-24}} for the trip to Washington.

On 25 January a ceremony was held in Washington, D.C., and the body was escorted by the [[Cavalry (United States)|United States Cavalry]] to the [[Smithsonian Institution Building|Castle]].<ref name=arrival>{{cite web|last=Stamm|first=Richard E|title=The Exhumation and Journey to America|url=http://www.si.edu/oahp/Smithsons%20Crypt/Exhumation.html|work=Mr. Smithson Goes to Washington|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|access-date=7 May 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120702025315/http://www.si.edu/oahp/Smithsons%20Crypt/Exhumation.html|archive-date=2 July 2012}}</ref> When handing over the remains to the Smithsonian, Bell stated: "And now... my mission is ended and I deliver into your hands ... the remains of this great benefactor of the United States.” The coffin then lay in state in the Board of Regents' room, where objects from Smithson's personal collection were on display.