The Genesis of tJw United States National MiiseuDi. 93 



the institution of learning provided In- vSniitlison, whose legaey had for 

 some years been deposited in the Treasury. ' 



It has alread}^ been suggested that the National Institution owed its 

 origin to the influence of the Sniithson bequest. Indeed, it may not be 

 altogether impossible that it was founded wdth special reference to some 

 plan looking toward securing the control of this bequest. ^ 



Although less than fiftj^ years have gone by, I can not learn that any 

 of those who w^ere active members at the time of its organization are 

 still living, and unfortunatel}' no one seems to have left any written record 

 of the secret history of this very significant movement. 



It seems possible, however, to read between the lines, in the official 

 publications of the society- and the utterances of its friends, and thereby 

 to acquire a certain additional insight into their meaning. 



With this in mind, it is instructive to review briefly the history of the 

 discussions which preceded the final organization of the Smithsonian 

 Institution — not with reference to its entire polic}-, for this has already 

 been well done by others, but in connection with its relations to the 

 national institution, and the custodianship of the National Museum. 



In 1835, as we have seen, the fact was first made know'n that Sniithson, 

 who had died in Genoa, six years earlier, had bequeathed the reversion 

 of his whole estate to the United States of America ' ' to found at Wash- 

 ington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment 

 for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." 



The bequest w'as communicated to Congress by the President on the 

 lytli of December, and v/as accepted by Congress by an act approved 

 July I, 1836, pledging "the faith of the United vStates " to the due appli- 

 cation of the fund to the purposes of the bequest. 



On the ist of September, 1838, the proceeds of the estate, amounting 

 to $508,318.46, was paid into the United States Mint, and shortly after 

 the convening of Congress in that year, in a message dated December 6, 

 President Van Buren informed both Houses that the amount received 

 having been invested, he deemed it proper to invite the attention of Con- 

 gress to the obligation devolving upon the United States to fulfill the 

 object of the bequest. 



Eight sessions of Congress passed by before any definite plan of organ- 

 ization w-as decided upon, and suggestions from all parts of the countr>' 

 were liberally forthcoming. Strange to say, nearly every suggestion, no 



' Smithson had died in 1829, but the legacy did not become available until after 

 the death of his nephew, the residuar}'' legatee, in 1835, after which, in September 

 of that year, the Government of the United States was first apprised of the fact of 

 the existence of such a bequest. The legacy was brought to New York in August, 

 183S, but no definite action was taken concerning its application until eight years 

 later, when on August 10, 1846, the act of Congress establishing the Smithsonian 

 Institution was passed. The Regents held their first meeting September 7, 1846, 

 and elected a secretary, who accepted the trust on December 7, and entered upon 

 his duties two weeks later. 



