NATIONAL MUSEUM BUILDINGS. 185 



on the Mall, but alono- its northern edg-e, directly facing the Smith- 

 sonian building. Upon its completion, the Museum will be in occu- 

 pancy of a group of throe buildings, counting a part of the Smithso- 

 nian as one, and it ma}' safely be predicted that none will long contain 

 any \acant space. 



THE SMITHSONIAN GROUNDS. 



In a bill for the organization of the Smithsonian Institution, pre- 

 pared by Representati\e John Quincy Adams, and presented to the 

 United States Senate on February 18. 1839, " provision was made for 

 an astronomical obserxatory, to be erected under the direction of the 

 Secretary of the Treasury upon land belonging to the United States, 

 which, after its selection, should be g-ranted for the purpose and con- 

 ve3'ed as a deed of gift to the trustees of the Institution. The locality 

 known as Camp Hill, near the banks of the Potomac River and the 

 mouth of Rock Creek, opposite Analostan Island, seems to have been 

 under consideration at that time. It was the same site that Washing- 

 ton had designated for the National University, and was sul^sequentl}' 

 used for the object Mr. Adams had in mind, but under the direction 

 of the United States Naval Establishment. 



In another bill, introduced in the Senate by Lewis F. Linn, on Feb- 

 ruary 10, 1841/' it was proposed that the entire tract known as the 

 Mall be appropriated for the uses of the Smithsonian Institution, with 

 the provision that the buildings should be erected in accordance with 

 plans prepared by and under the supervision of the National Institu- 

 tion, to be approved by the President of the United States. In bills 

 submitted to the same body in June and December, 1844, by the 

 Library Committee, consisting of Senators Rufus Choate, Benjamin 

 Tappan, and elames McP. Berrien, appeared the first detinite charac- 

 terization of the building, which was to l)e placed upon a site to be 

 selected in that portion of the Mall lying west of Seventh street. 



The bill for the establishment of the Smithsonian Institution which 

 finally passed Congress and received the a])proval of the President on 

 August 10, I84t),^' was drafted by Representative Robert Dale Owen. 

 The sections relating to the site and building are quoted on pages 183 

 and 184 of the introduction. 



Ui)on the organization of the Board of Regents attention in regard 

 to the site seems first to have been directed toward the Mall, and here 

 its location was finally established, though not without some difficul- 

 ties and delay, the choice being subject to approval by the President 

 of the United States, the Secretaries of State, the Treasury, War, and 

 the Navy, and the Commissioner of Patents. At a meeting- of the 

 Regents on September l>, 184(3, the chancellor, the Secretary, and the 



« Senate bill 293, 1839. ''Senate bill 245, 1841. f Statutes IX, 102. 



