George Mifflin Dallas' Letter to Joseph Henry (August 6, 1847)

Summary

Letter from George Mifflin Dallas, Vice President of the United States, to Joseph Henry, first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, August 6, 1847. In the letter, Dallas seeks Henry's expert opinion about the danger of a lightning strike to a proposed mast and lantern set to be erected in the United States Capitol Building's dome.

Subject

• Henry, Joseph 1797-1878
• United States. Office of the Vice President
• United States Capitol (Washington, D.C.)

Category

Historic Images of the Smithsonian

Notes

The accompanying PDF contains SIA2012-0446 and SIA2012-0447, which are pages scanned from the edited transcript of the original version and notes in the Joseph Henry Papers Volume 7, pages 154-155 (Document 87).

Contained within

• Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7001, Box 9, Folder: 1 - August - September 1847
• Rothenberg, Marc, et al, eds., The Papers of Joseph Henry, Volume 7, The Smithsonian Years: January 1847-December 1849 (Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1996), 154-155

Contact information

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu

Date

August 6, 1847

Restrictions & Rights

No restrictions

Topic

• Electricity
• Secretaries
• Lightning
• Letters
• Science
• Electromagnets
• Lightning rods
• Meteorology
• Domes
• Electromagnetism

Place

United States

Form/Genre

• Document
• Paper

ID Number

SIA2012-2925

Physical description

Number of Images: 1 ; Color: Color ; Size: 7 5/8w x 9 13/16h ; Type of Image: Document ; Medium: Paper

Full Record

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