4 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



tliouglit proper, however, to leave them exactly as they were when form- 

 ing the library of Mr. Smithson. 



Such of the relics of Smithson and his family as have come into pos- 

 session of the Institution have also been appropriately arranged in frames 

 and placed on exibition in the Regents' room. They consist of the follow- 

 ing articles: 



1. An oil portrait of Smithson as an Oxford student. 



2. An oil portrait in miniature of Smithson, painted by Johns, at Aix- 

 la-Chapelle, in 1816. 



3. An oil portrait in miniature of Col. Henry Louis Dickinson, a half- 

 brother of James Smithson. 



4. The dinner invitation card of Smithson. 



5. His visiting card, used in Paris. 



6. A copy of his will in his own handwriting. 



7. A manuscript in his handwriting. 



8. A commission from George III to Major Henry Louis Dickinson, 

 as Lieutenant-Colonel, dated 1st Jan., 1800, 



9. A commission from the same King to Lient.- Colonel H. L. Dickin- 

 son, as Colonel of the 84th Eegt., dated 4th Aug., 1808. 



^mitlison^s Tomb. — It is, of course, eminently proper that the Smithsonian 

 Institution should do all in its jjower to preserve the remembrance of its 

 great founder, Mr. James Smithson 5 and an endeavor toward this end has 

 been made by the publication of a Life of Smithson and a reprint of all 

 his works. In the efforts to obtain a memorial of some kind of the last 

 resting place of Mr. Smithson, at Genoa, in Italy, a i)hotograph of the 

 tomb was obtained from Mr. Hazelton, the United States consul in 

 that city, with a statement of its present condition. In accordance 

 with a suggestion from him he was authorized to put the monument 

 in thorough repair and to arrange to have it kept in good condition at 

 the exxjense of the Institution. The monument is an approjiriate and 

 substantial one, and as long as the Institution is in existence this 

 reminder of its founder should be carefully protected. 



INAUGURAL RECEPTION. 



Eeference should be made to the grantingof the use of the new Museum 

 building for the purpose of holding the inaugural reception in honor of 

 the newly-elected President. A petition to that effect, from a committee 

 of citizens of Washington, was presented at a meeting of the Board on 

 the 8th of December, and the following resolution, granting the request, 

 was passed : 



" Whereas the new Museum building is unfinished and not ready for 

 occupancy of the government collections, and whereas such a contin- 

 gency will not again occur, and no precedent is to be given for the use 

 of the building for other purposes : 



'■'■Eesolved, That the use of the new National Museum building be 

 granted for the inaugural reception of the President of the United 

 States, on the 4th of March, 1881, and that the Secretary of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution be authorized to make all necessary arrangements 

 for this purpose." 



