31 [ 1 ] 



lisliment, and to give an earnest of its future usefulness. A record of 

 visitors, kept in the reading room, shows an average of sixteen thousand 

 a year. A large proportion of these are, it is true, attracted merely by 

 curiosity. Yet many are led by a love of study. However much we 

 must regret that we have not yet the mt^ans of meeting tlie wants of 

 students, it is encouraging to see the evidence, that all which we can do 

 will be appreciated and rendered useful. 



The experience of the last year would seem to decide the question of 

 the appropriateness of this location for such an Institution. An establisli- 

 ment like this must have a fixed position somew^here. Yet its benefit* 

 are for all ; not for one city nor one section of country, nor one nation 

 even, but for " jrAXKixn '\ It is not to be denied, that a large city, like 

 New York, or Philadelphia, or JJoston, offers many advantages for the 

 operations ol' such an Institution, not possessed by this city. It is, never- 

 theless, almost beyond question, that the comparison of advantages is in 

 favor of this very place. Tliere is no spot which presents so many 

 attractions for the chiss of men most immediately interested in its con- 

 cerns ; no city, wdiich they more gladly visit. The high officers of state, 

 and the foreign diplomatic corps reside here. Here are held the sessiorui 

 of Congress. Here are the executive departments of the government, 

 the Patent Office, the Office of the Coast Survey and the Observatory. 

 Every man, throughout the whole extent of the land, feels that here 

 he has a friend, — a representativ^e, — through whom he may commu- 

 nicate with such an establishment, when he cannot visit it in person. 

 The facilities for the kind of intercourse, which w^e need Avi-th other 

 countries, are, by the help of the State Department and of Foreign 

 Ministers, greater than at any other point. More than all, the estab- 

 lishment here possesses a character of nationality, wdiich would not 

 elsewhere attach 1o its movements, in the eyes of our own people and 

 of foreigners. This it was, undoubtedly, wdiich led its founder to direct 

 that the Institution should be established in Washington. Eesides all 

 this, it is enabled to multiply its influence and usefulness, by acting 

 in concert with the departmeiits of the National Government. 



The inhabitants of a city where such an institution is established mu.'^t, 

 of necessity, share more largely in its benefits than others more remote. It 

 is gratifying to know that this advantage could fall nowhere more appro- 

 priately, more benignly, or less invidiously, than u])on this city. Selected 

 and planned as for the seat of government of a mighty em])ire — a spot 

 Avhere nature laid her hand most gracefully — Washington has not hitherto 

 Ijeen able, like her sister cities, to gather from commerce, wealth for 

 endowments of learning. From the nature of our political institution?, 

 she has been deprived, too, of that fostering munificence, which in 

 Europe has reared splendid capitals from the sandy plain, or sunken 

 morass, and supplied them not only with all that can meet the con- 

 venience and gratify the taste of their inhabitants, but also with Uni- 

 versities, Scientific Societies, and Libraries, for the advancement of civ- 

 ilizalion, refinement, and human happiness. 



The central position and national character of the institution, have sug- 

 gested many ways of rendering the Smithsonian Library useful to the lit(.>- 

 rary public other than in the collection of books. 'J'hese are not of course 

 supposed to dispense with the importance of collections, nor do thoHo 

 "vvhich we have thus far adopted materially diminish our means of accu- 



