ORGANIZATION, PLAN AND SCOPE. 



The Carnegie Institution of Washington was founded by Mr. Andrew 

 Carnegie, January 28, 1902, when he gave to a board of trustees an endow- 

 ment of registered bonds of the par value of ten milUon dollars. To this 

 fund an addition of two miUion dollars was made by Mr. Carnegie on 

 December 10, 1907, and a further addition of ten million dollars was made 

 by him January 19, 1911 ; so that the present endov/ment of the Institution 

 has a par value of twenty-two million dollars. The Institution was origi- 

 nally organized under the laws of the District of Columbia and incorporated 

 as the Carnegie Institution, articles of incorporation having been executed 

 on January 4, 1902. The Institution was reincorporated, however, by an 

 act of the Congress of the United States, approved April 28, 1904, under the 

 title of The Carnegie Institution of Washington. (See existing Articles of 

 Incorporation on the following pages.) 



Organization under the new Articles of Incorporation was effected May 

 18, 1904, and the Institution was placed under the control of a board of 

 twenty-four trustees, all of whom had been members of the original corpora- 

 tion. The trustees meet annually in December to consider the affairs of 

 the Institution in general, the progress of work already undertaken, the 

 initiation of new projects, and to make the necessary appropriations for the 

 ensuing year. During the intervals between the meetings of the Trustees 

 the affairs of the Institution are conducted by an Executive Committee 

 chosen by and from the Board of Trustees and acting through the President 

 of the Institution as chief executive officer. 



The Articles of Incorporation of the Institution declare in general "that 

 the objects of the corporation shall be to encourage, in the broadest and most 

 liberal manner, investigation, research, and discovery, and the application 

 of knowledge to the improvement of mankind." Three principal agencies 

 to forward these objects have been developed. The first of these involves 

 the establishment of departments of research within the Institution itself, 

 to attack larger problems requiring the collaboration of several investigators, 

 special equipment, and continuous effort. The second provides means 

 whereby individuals may undertake and carry to completion investigations 

 not less important but requiring less collaboration and less special equip- 

 ment. The third agency, namely, a division devoted to editing and to print- 

 ing books, aims to provide adequate publication of the results of research 

 coming from the first two agencies and to a limited extent also for worthy 

 works not likely to be published under other auspices. 



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