Duplicate Specimens Distributed Within USA

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Date: June 15, 1853

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Summary

Distribution of duplicate specimens to other museums begins. The 1853 Annual Report states: "Much has been done during the year towards distributing duplicate specimens of the Smithsonian collection among the other cabinets of the country." Secretary Joseph Henry does not wish to amass a large museum collection as part of the Smithsonian and so encourages the distribution of specimens received to other museums. In practice, Assistant Secretary Spencer Fullerton Baird uses the distribution of specimens to exchange with other museums, thereby increasing the U.S. National Museum he was dedicated to developing.

Subject

  • Baird, Spencer Fullerton 1823-1887
  • Henry, Joseph 1797-1878
  • United States National Museum

Category

Chronology of Smithsonian History

Notes

  • Engraving of the Laboratory of Natural History in the Smithsonian Institution Building, 1857. Smithsonian Institution Archives, negative number 2005-10437.
  • Date is from Goode, 1897, page 835, and may be date of report to Board of Regents.
  • Goode, George Brown, ed. The Smithsonian Institution, 1846-1896, The History of Its First Half Century. Washington, D.C.: De Vinne Press, 1897, p. 835
  • Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for the year 1853, p. 53

Contact information

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

Date

June 15, 1853

Topic

  • Policies
  • Exchange of Specimens
  • Natural History
  • Museums
  • National Collections
  • Museum exhibits
  • Natural history

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