Not only did the Columbian Institute want for an ade- 

 quate financial base to carry out its most basic aspirations; 

 it also suffered from a lack of leadership. Although there 

 was considerable enthusiasm for the Institute during its first 

 decade, it essentially was an organization composed of gen- 

 tlemen who were usually occupied with official or profes- 

 sional duties. As a consequence, for the most part, it was 

 run by amateurs. 



Had the Institute possessed adequate funds, it could 

 have employed experts in a number of different fields. 

 Unfortunately, in most instances its members were willing 

 to give the Institute little more than their names. The 

 Institute's meetings were poorly attended and volunteers for 

 service few. Given these realities, the Institute's objectives 

 could not possibly have been realized. 



In 1841, the Columbian Institute merged with the 

 Historical Society of Washington, which had been founded 

 five years earlier, and the objects possessed by the Institute 

 were transferred to the National Institute for the Promotion 

 of Science, a predecessor to the Smithsonian Institution. 36 

 Two decades later, these objects were turned over to the 

 Smithsonian. The Institute's legacy was that it provided a 

 foundation framework for the United States Botanic Garden 

 as well as providing the objects that would ultimately help 

 form the basis of the initial Smithsonian collection. 



With the demise of the Columbian Institute the site of 

 the Botanic Garden reverted to the Federal Government. Not 

 until 1850 did the Government again express an interest in 

 the site as it sought a new location for the botanical collec- 

 tion of Lieutenant Charles Wilkes' Exploring Expedition of 

 1838-1842. 37 



36 Second Bulletin of the Proceedings of the National Institute for the 

 Promotion of Science, Washington: Printed by Peter Force, 1842, pp. 94, 

 113. 



37 Ibid., p. 43 



