The Genesis of tJte United States National Mnse/nn. i ii 



of orc^anization, except in its bearings upon the development of the 

 museum idea. 



In the bill proposed by Robert Dale Owen in 1846 the National Insti- 

 tute was recognized to the extent of placing two of its members on the 

 Board of Managers, an arrangement which was continued in the Board of 

 Regents in the Hough bill which finally passed. 



An amendment to the Owen bill, proposed by Joseph R. Ingersoll, 

 and passed, and which, had it not been superseded in the Hough l)ill, 

 would have given the National Institute a strong and perhaps permanent 

 hold upon the national collections, read as follows : 



Sec 5. Afid be it further enacted. That, in proportion as suita1)lc arrangements 

 can be made for their reception, all objects of art and of foreign and cm-ious research, 

 and all objects of natural history, plants, and geological and niineralogical specimens 

 belonging or hereafter to belong to the United States, which may be in the city of 

 Washington, in -whosesoever custody the same may be, shall be delivered to such 

 persons as may be authorized by the Board of Managers to receive them, and shall 

 be arranged in such order, and so classed, as best to facilitate the examination and 

 study of them, in the buildings so as aforesaid to be erected for the institution; and 

 the managers of said institution shall afterwards, as new specimens in natural history, 

 geology, or mineralogy may be obtained for the museum of the institution, by 

 exchanges of duplicate specimens belonging to the institution (which they are 

 hereby authorized to make), or by donation, which they may receive, or otherwise, 

 cause such new specimens to be also appropriately classed and arranged. And the 

 minerals, books, manuscripts, and other property of James Smithson, which have 

 been received by the Government of the United States, and are now placed in the 

 Department of State, shall be removed to said institution, and shall be preserved 

 separate and apart from the other property of the institution. 



Sec 6. And be it fuHlier enacted, That the managers of said institution shall 

 appoint a Superintendent, whose duty it shall be to take charge of the groinid, 

 buildings, and property belonging to the institution, and carefully preserve the same 

 from injury; and such Superintendent shall be the Secretary of the Board of ]\Ian- 

 agers, and shall, under their direction, make a fair and accurate record of all their 

 proceedings, to "be preserved in said institution; and the said Superintendent shall 

 also discharge the duties of librarian and of keeper of the nmseum, and may, with 

 the consent of the Board of Managers, emplc^y assistants; and the said managers 

 .shall appoint a professor of agriculture, horticulture, and rural econonn-; and the 

 said profes.sor may hire, from time to time, so :nany gardeners, practical agriculturists, 

 and laborers as may be necessary to cultivate the ground and maintain a botanical 

 garden; and he shall make, under the supervi-sion of the board of management, such 

 experiments as may be of general utility throughout the United States, to determine 

 the utility and advantage of new modes and instruments of culture, to determine 

 whether new fruits, plants, and vegetables may be cultivated to advantage in the 

 United vStates; and the said officers shall receive for their services .such sum as may 

 be allowed by the Board of Managers, to be paid semiannually on the first da}- of 

 January and July; and the .said officers, and all other officers of the in.stitution, shall 

 be removable b}' the Board of Managers, whenever, in their judgment, the interests 

 of the institution require any of the said officers to be changed. 



In the Hough bill there was an attempt of another kind to weld 

 together the fate of the Sraith.sonian Museum and the National Cabinet 

 of Curiosities, by giving to the Board of Regents the authority to erect 

 a building by the side of the Patent Office, so as to form a wing of that 



