Notes 



1. The United States National Museum 



1. Goode, B. 1893. The genesis of the United States 

 National Museum. Report of the United States National 

 Museum for 1891, part 2:273-380. Although there is 

 a lot of quoted material in a fine type size that strains 

 the eyes, this is an interesting historical account that 

 demonstrates that the times and the resources have to 

 be right for a good idea to succeed. 



2. The question of just when the Museum began has 

 been debated for decades. Smithsonian Deputy 

 Archivist William A. Deiss provided a great deal of 

 data in his meiriorandum to me of January 27, 1981. 

 In my view, the National Museum began in 1858 

 when Henry convinced the Congress that support of a 

 museum was an appropriate expenditure of public 

 funds. An early sign over exhibits in the Castle is 

 illustrated in Karp, W., 1965, The Smithsonian 

 Institution (Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.). 

 The book has considerable merit but is no longer in 

 print. 



3. Rathbun, Richard. 1905. The United States National 

 Museum: An account of the buildings occupied by the 

 national collections. Report of the United States 

 National Museum for 1903, pp. 177-309. This is 

 virtually the only information on the small brick 

 building whose direct descendant is Exhibits Central, 

 and on the Armory, whose direct descendant is the 

 Museum Support Center. 



4. Because the centenary of the Smithsonian Institution 

 occurred shortly after the close of World War II, 

 virtually nothing was written in a historical vein except 

 a series of papers in a centennial issue of Science (vol. 

 104, August 9, 1946); this was curtailed because of a 

 paper shortage. A brief general account was prepared 

 for the public, with what were for its time profuse 

 illustrations, by True, W. P., 1946, The first hundred 

 years of the Smithsonian Institution, 1846—1946, 64 pp. 

 True was an editor for the Smithsonian, the son of F. 

 W. True, Assistant Secretary at the time the Museum 

 of Natural History was built. Since the 1950s, a great 

 deal has been written and illustrated about the 

 Smithsonian, much of it delightful to look at and a 

 pleasure to read. A scholarly account of the early days 

 that sheds a bit more light on federal funding is that 

 of Washburn, W. E., 1977, "A national museum," pp. 

 20—27, in The Smithsonian Experience (New York: W. W. 

 Norton & Co.). The first fifty years of the 

 Smith.sonian Institution, including the early years of 

 the United States National Museum, are chronicled in 

 excruciating detail by Rhees, W. J., 1901, The 



Smithsonian Institution, documents relative to its origin and 

 history 1835—1899 (in two volumes). The 

 sesquicentennial might provide an opportunity for 

 later editors to put an approximate date on some of 

 the old pictures, develop more precise chronologies, 

 and offer some of the Rhesian type of detail 

 concerning the great expansion of the Smithsonian 

 between the 1950s and the 1980s. 



5. Logan, Mrs. John A. 1901. Thirty years in Washington or 

 life and scenes in our national capital. Hartford: A. D. 

 Worthing & Co., 752 pp. 



6. Rathbun, op. cit., 263. 



7. I have drawn my account of the career of Goode from 

 Oehser, P. H., 1949, Sons of science: The story of the 

 Smithsonian Institution and its leaders (New York: Henry 

 Schuman). Oehser is a poet who for many years was 

 the chief editor for the Smithsonian. Perhaps his view 

 of the Smithsonian is a bit romanticized, but as one of 

 those people dedicated to the Institution, he certainly 

 is qualified to view it in this light. If Oehser writes 

 that it happened, one can be certain it happened. His 

 book is out of print, another loss that should be 

 remedied. 



8. Merrill, G. P. "An historical account of the 

 Department of Geology in the U. S. National 

 Museum." This is a rough draft of an incomplete 

 manuscript prepared by Merrill and located in the 

 Department of Mineral Sciences library. It includes 

 material written at several different times. As there is 

 mention of the appointment of Alexander Wetmore as 

 director, it is probable that this copy was in 

 preparation during 1926-27; Merrill died in 1929. 

 Unfortunately, there is no comment on the death of 

 C. D. Walcott, which occurred early in 1927. The 

 manuscript is a mine of detail about the Department 

 of Geology, and is one reason that department is 

 mentioned more than others. A few additional drafts 

 and other papers are associated with it. The quote, 

 about how bad the old museum was, was taken by 

 Mason (see note 2, chap. 2) from a pencil-written 

 sheet; perhaps Merrill died before it was completed, 

 or perhaps he decided not to include it, though he 

 certainly spoke the truth. 



9. Goode, G. Brown. 1895. The principles of museum 

 administration. Annual report of the Museum.s Association 

 for 1893: 1-73. 



10. Rathbun, op. cit., 250. 



11. Willis, Bailey. 1947. A Yanqui in Patagonia. Stanlord 

 University Press, p. 32. 



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