482 The Smithsonian Institution 



Owen, for the establishment of the Institution, the following 

 provision for publications was contained : 



SECTION 10. "And be it further enacted, That it shall be 

 competent for the board of managers to cause to be printed 

 and published periodically or occasionally essays, pamphlets, 

 magazines, or other brief works or productions for the dis- 

 semination of information among the people, especially works 

 in popular form on agriculture and its latest improvements, 

 on the sciences and the aid they bring to labor, manuals ex- 

 planatory of the best systems of common school instruction, 

 and generally tracts illustrative of objects of elementary sci- 

 ence and the rudiments of history, chemistry, astronomy, or 

 any other department of useful knowledge ; also, they may 

 prepare sets of illustrations, specimens, and apparatus, suited 

 for primary schools." 



Another proposition was submitted by Mr. Giles of Mary- 

 land, "providing for the publication and distribution of books 

 for the instruction of the blind." 



The act establishing the Smithsonian Institution did not 

 directly specify that publications should be issued. The last 

 sentence of the third section reads: "And the said Board [of 

 Regents] shall submit to Congress, at each session thereof, 

 a report of the operations, expenditures, and condition of the 

 Institution." Upon the basis of this statement, the annual 

 Reports, the series of the Institution's publications issued in 

 the largest edition and most widely distributed, rest. 



The first Report of the Institution presented to Congress 

 was printed as a Congressional document, and consisted of 

 thirty-seven pages. It was devoted entirely to the business 

 of the Board of Regents. This plan of report was followed 

 for several years; but the importance of making this docu- 

 ment something more than a mere record of receipts and 

 expenditures was recognized at the outset, the committee on 



