THE ESTABLISHMENT AND THE 

 BOARD OF REGENTS 



BY GEORGE BROWN GOODE 



|\HE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION is a 

 corporation or Establishment, created by the 

 act of Congress approved August 10, 1846, 

 " for the increase and diffusion of knowledge 

 among men." 



Its statutory members are the President of the United 

 States, the Vice- President of the United States, the Chief 

 Justice of the United States, 1 the Secretary of State, the 

 Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of War, the 

 Attorney- General, the Postmaster- General, the Secretary of 

 the Navy, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary 

 of Agriculture. 



The duty of the Establishment is the " supervision of the 

 affairs of the Institution and the advice and instruction of the 

 Board of Regents." The Establishment has, from time to 



1 The original act of incorporation also 

 named as members of the Establishment the 

 Commissioner of the Patent Office of the 

 United States and the Mayor of the city of 

 Washington. This act was amended March 

 20, 1871, so as to substitute the Governor 

 of the District of Columbia as an ex officio 



Regent, in place of the Mayor of Washington, 

 the latter office having ceased to exist. In 

 1874 the office of Governor of the District of 

 Columbia was in turn abolished. In 1877 the 

 Secretary of the Interior, and in 1894 the Sec- 

 retary of Agriculture, were added as members 

 of the Establishment. 



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