Chronology 



Date 



May 13, 1878 



May 17, 1878 

 1879 



1881 



August 19, 1887 

 November 18, 1887 

 September 6, 1896 

 January 27, 1897 



July 1, 1897 



July 1898 



January 30, 1903 

 June 15, 1904 

 February 22, 1906 

 January 23, 1907 

 August 11, 1909 

 October 15, 1909 

 March 17, 1910 

 June 1, 1910 

 June 1, 1911 

 June 20, 1911 

 October 8, 1911 

 October, 1917 

 July 16, 1918 



November 1, 1918 



April, 1919 

 July 1, 1920 

 April 1, 1925 



Event 



Joseph Henry, first Secretary of Smithsonian Institution, 

 dies. 



Spencer Fullerton Baird appointed second Secretary. 

 Name "United States National Museum" first used by 

 Congress. 



National Museum (Arts and Industries) building opens 

 after use for Cleveland Inaugural Ball. 

 Secretary Baird dies. 



Samuel Pierpont Langley appointed third Secretary. 

 Assistant Secretary George Brown Goode dies. 

 Charles Doolittle Walcott appointed Acting Assistant 

 Secretary in charge of U.S. National Museum. 

 National Museum organized into three departments: 

 Anthropology, W. H. Holmes, head; Biology, F. W. 

 True, head; and Geology, G. P. Merrill, head. 

 Richard Rathbun appointed Assistant Secretary in charge 

 of U.S. National Museum. 



Funds for new building appropriated by Congress. 

 Ground broken for New National Museum. 

 Secretary Langley dies. 



Charles Doolittle Walcott appointed fourth Secretary. 



Staff begins to move collections into new building. 



Heating boilers fired. 



New National Museum opened to public. 



Holmes again appointed head of Anthropology. 



Leonhard Stejneger appointed second head of Biology. 



Building formally completed. 



Sunday-afternoon visiting hours begin. 



Bureau of War Risk Insurance moves into building. 



Building closed for use by Bureau of War Risk 



Insurance. Richard Rathbun dies. 



W. de C. Ravenel appointed assistant to the Secretary, in 

 charge of U.S. National Museum. 

 Building reopened to public. 



National Gallery of Art formed, with Holmes as director. 

 Alexander Wetmore appointed Assistant Secretary. 



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