62 The Smithsonian Institution 



The first meeting of the Regents for the purpose of or- 

 ganization was held on September 7, 1846, in a room in the 

 Patent Office building, assigned for the purpose by the 

 President of the United States. 



At this meeting were present George M. Dallas, of Penn- 

 sylvania, Vice- President of the United States; Roger B. 

 Taney, of Maryland, Chief Justice of the United States ; Wil- 

 liam W. Seaton, Mayor of the city of Washington ; Senator 

 George Evans, of Maine ; Senator Isaac S. Pennybacker, of 

 Virginia; Robert Dale Owen, Representative from Indiana; 

 William J. Hough, Representative from New York; Henry 

 W. Hilfiard, Representative from Alabama; the Honorable 

 Rufus Choate, of Massachusetts; Doctor Gideon Hawley, of 

 New York; and Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania, citizens at 

 large; Doctor Alexander Dallas Bache and Colonel Joseph 

 G. Totten representing the National Institute of Washing- 

 ton. Senator Sidney Breese, of Illinois, was present at sub- 

 sequent meetings during the course of organization. 



Since the date of organization, the Board of Regents have 

 held 218 meetings, an average of about four to each year. 

 The record of their proceedings up to 1876 occupies a volume 

 of three hundred pages, and if extended up to the present 

 year would require four hundred pages. 1 This record, it need 

 scarcely be said, relates only to the actual transactions of the 

 Board and its committees at its regular meetings. The re- 

 ports of the Board to Congress occupy fifty volumes, includ- 

 ing in all about thirty-eight thousand pages. 



The regular annual meetings of the Board are held in 

 January. Since January, 1890, the day has been fixed for the 

 fourth Wednesday of the month. 



The Executive Committee of the Regents provided for by 



1 " The Smithsonian Institution : Journals J. Rhees, Washington ; published by the 

 of the Board of Regents, Reports of Com- Smithsonian Institution, 1879. Octavo, pages 

 mittee's Statistics," etc. Edited by William v-vii, 844. 



