| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| January 1, 1968 | The Center for the Study of Short-Lived Phenomena is established under the direction of Robert A. Citron. Its function is to study rare or infrequent natural phenomena such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, meteorite falls, the birth of new islands, and other sudden changes in biological and ecological systems. The Administrative Office is located at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. |
| January 2, 1953 |  Leonard B. Carmichael takes office as seventh Secretary of the
Smithsonian, and he serves for 11 years, 1953-1964. He is the first Secretary selected
from outside the Institution. For fourteen years prior to his appointment, he was
president of Tufts College. As a physiological psychologist, Carmichael is the author of a
standard manual of child psychology. |
| January 3, 1905 |  Charles Lang Freer first offers his art collection to the Smithsonian
Institution. President Theodore Roosevelt has to convince the Board of Regents to accept
the gift, and the formal deed of gift is signed May 5, 1906. |
| January 4, 1980 | "Howard Chandler Christy," a small collection of works and memorabilia highlighting the career of the creator of the "Christy Girl," opens at the National Portrait Gallery. |
| January 5, 1982 | Groundbreaking ceremonies begin construction of the library serving the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in the Republic of Panama. |
| January 6, 1979 | The Smithsonian Galaxy, a weekly series of 2 1/2-minute radio features, is inaugurated to serve 202 stations in 44 states as well as the Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands, Australia, Germany, and Canada. |
| January 7, 1923 | European Brown Bear cubs are born at the National Zoological Park. |
| January 7, 1974 | A small, self-service restaurant serving food with a "Continental Touch" is opened to the public at the National Collection of Fine Arts, now the National Museum of American Art, and the National Portrait Gallery. It is located in the Seventh Street wing of the building, and is operated by Associated Caterers. |
| January 8, 1969 | President Lyndon Baines Johnson, Chief Justice Earl Warren and the Secretary S. Dillon Ripley break ground for the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden building. |
| January 9, 1969 | Winslow Homer's graphic art is exhibited from January 9 to February 23 at the National Collection of Fine Arts, now the National Museum of American Art. |
| January 10, 1928 |  Charles Greeley Abbot is elected the fifth Secretary of the Smithsonian
Institution by the Board of Regents (16-year term: 1928-1944). He first came to the
Institution in 1895 as an aid at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory after receiving
his master's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Upon Secretary Samuel
P. Langley's death he had become director of the Astrophysical Observatory and in 1918
Assistant Secretary. |
| January 11, 1977 |  The Silver Hill Museum, with several buildings of displays and the
restoration facility of the National Air and Space Museum, opens for public tours at
Suitland, Maryland. |
| January 11, 1994 | "Workers at the White House" opens at the Gerald R. Ford Library in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The exhibition is produced by the Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies in cooperation with the White House Historical Association and the National Archived in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the White House. It is based on a program at the 1992 Festival of American Folklife. The exhibition is shown at the Charles Sumner School Museum and Archives in Washington, D.C., beginning September 20 and is traveling to presidential libraries. |
| January 12, 1945 |  Alexander Wetmore (7-year term: 1945-1952) is elected the sixth Secretary
on 12 January 1945 by the Board of Regents. A noted ornithologist, he had been associated
with the Institution since 1924, when he served for a short time as director of the
National Zoological Park. He had also served as Assistant Secretary in charge of the
United States National Museum. |
| January 13, 1982 | Smithsonian staffers, dismissed from work early due to snow, are caught between two tragedies, a Metro derailment just north of the Smithsonian Station and an airplane crash on the 14th Street Bridge, taking the life of Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute scientist, Robert Elliot Silberglied. Most staffers are given administrative leave on Thursday, January 14th, as well. The National Zoological Park is closed from the 13th through the 15th. Phone traffic is so heavy on the main telephone switchboard that the mechanical answering machine breaks down on Wednesday evening at about 6:30. |
| January 14, 1967 | The Smithsonian Associates presents its first lecture for children, an illustrated talk by Dr. William Melson of the Department of Mineral Sciences. The talk was attended by nearly 600 children between the ages of six and ten years of age. |
| January 15, 1924 | A special exhibition of Whistler etchings and lithographs opens at the Freer Gallery of Art. "Additional water-colors and pastels by Whistler have also been placed on view, thus affording, together with the paintings already hung, a comprehensive showing of Whistler's work." |
| January 15, 1977 | "The President's Medal, 1789-1977" opens at the National Portrait Gallery, exhibiting the medals of Presidents from George Washington to Jimmy Carter, and reviewing the origins and development of this form of American portraiture. |
| January 16, 1879 | Memorial services in honor of Secretary Joseph Henry are held in the United States Capitol. By joint resolution of Congress, the memorial addresses were ordered to be printed in the "Congressional Record." The next day the Board of Regents appoints a committee of three, Asa Gray, Peter Parker, and Spencer F. Baird, to prepare a special volume as a memorial of Professor Henry's life. This work, together with other accounts of the public commemorations of Henry, comprises 532 pages, and is published as Vol. XXI of Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. |
| January 17, 1883 | The Board of Regents presents a resolution to Congress requesting an appropriation of $300,000, to be expended under direction of the Board of Regents, to enlarge the National Museum by erection of a fireproof building on the southwest corner of the Smithsonian Reservation. This resolution relates to a bill introduced in the House that would appropriate $200,000 for a building to accommodate the United States Geological Survey and for other purposes. At the time, the U.S. Geological Survey is occupying some 20 rooms in the new National Museum Building. However, no appropriation is made for this building. This requests less then 2 years after the National Museum Building, now the Arts and Industries Builing, is opened. |
| January 18, 1985 | "Peace and Friendship: Indian Peace Medals in the United States" opens at the National Portrait Gallery. The exhibition illustrates the significant role the medals played in relations between native Americans and the U.S. President. It brought together for the first time examples of all the peace medals issued by the United States Government . |
| January 19, 1836 |  Former President John Quincy Adams, now in the House of Representatives
from Massachusetts, issues a report on the James Smithson bequest, urging that the United
States accept it. |
| January 19, 1969 | An afternoon reception is held at National Museum of History and Technology, now the National Museum of American History, for Mr. Agnew, whose duties as Vice President include being Vice Chancellor of the Smithsonian Board of Regents. The inaugural ball is held in the National Museum of History and Technology. |
| January 20, 1941 | A new exhibit, providing a visual index to the activities of the Smithsonian Institution, opens in the Main Hall (Great Hall) of the Smithsonian Institution Building, after extensive renovations. |
| January 21, 1885 | The Board of Regents decide that "the fiscal year of the Institution shall terminate on the 30th of June of each year, and that the annual meeting of the Board of Regents shall be held on the second Wednesday of January in each year." |
| January 21, 1984 |  Robert McCormick Adams is named the ninth Secretary (10-year term:
1984-1994) and assumes the post on September 17, 1984. Adams served as Provost of the
University of Chicago from 1982 until 1984. In his scholarly work and 27 years of field
research, Dr. Adams has focused principally on the agricultural and urban history of the
Near and Middle East and the geographical and archaeological study of settlement patterns. |
| January 22, 1980 | "The Oceanliner: Speed, Style, Symbol," a popular and nostalgic show, opens at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum. In exploring the three themes, the museum assembled plans, cutaways, furnishings, paper memorabilia, and the ubiquitous souvenir. For the audience it provided a nostalgic view of an era that had passed. |
| January 22, 1987 | A snowstorm forces the Smithsonian to close at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 22. The Smithsonian is also closed all day on Monday, January 26. This is the first time the SI closes because of inclement weather since January 13, 1983. The National Zoological Park is closed for half days on the 22nd and 25th, and all day the 26th. At least two keepers spend the night sleeping in the Antelope House, to tend the animals. |
| January 23, 1907 |  Charles Doolittle Walcott (20-year term: 1907-1927) is elected the fourth
Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Walcott was a well-known geologist and explorer,
who had succeeded John Wesley Powell as director of the U.S. Geological Survey. |
| January 23, 1964 |  The Museum of History and Technology, now the National Museum of American
History, opens in its new building, occupying the equivalent of ten exhibition halls.
After the opening, another fifty permanent exhibit halls will be completed. President
Lyndon Johnson dedicated the building on January 22. In the first weekend, 54,000 people
visited the Museum. The halls opened included the Flag Hall, First Ladies' Hall, the halls
of Everyday Life in the American Past, American Costume, Farm Machinery, Light Machinery,
Tools, Vehicles, Railroads, as well as a temporary exhibition presenting examples of
exhibits to be installed in other halls of the building. |
| January 24, 1865 |  Fire destroys the roof and all the interior of the upper story of the main
building of the Smithsonian Institution Building, the interior of the two large north
towers, and also of the large south tower. The personal effects and mineral collection of
James Smithson are destroyed, with the exception of his portrait and library, as well as
the contents of Secretary Joseph Henry's office, including correspondence, scientific
papers, diaries, and the completed manuscript of the annual report. Also lost in the fire
are many meteorological records, scientific instruments, including those donated by Dr.
Robert Hare, and the John Mix Stanley portraits of American Indians. |
| January 24, 1906 | The Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution formally accepts Charles Lang Freer's gift of his collections. |
| January 25, 1893 |  A new seal, designed by A. St. Gaudens, is adopted by the Smithsonian Institution. The seal will be affixed to formal papers of the Smithsonian Institution. The first use of the seal was on the circulars issued March 31, 1893 concerning the Hodgkins fund. |
| January 25, 1904 |  Alexander Graham Bell, a Smithsonian Regent, brings Smithson's relics from
Genoa, Italy, to the United States. After a procession from the Navy Yard to the
Smithsonian Institution Building, Bell hands over Smithson's remains with the words,
"And now...my mission is ended and I deliver into your hands...the remains of this
great benefactor of the United States." The remains are temporarily situated in the
Regents Room accompanied by the few remaining personal relics of Smithson. In 1905 the
crypt containing Smithson's remains is created at the north entrance of the Smithsonian
Building. |
| January 26, 1957 | More than 800 people attend the opening of the Hall of Everyday Life in Early America, officiated by Secretary Leonard Carmichael. It is the first hall in the museum to be devoted to cultural history, and includes an entire 17th century Massachusetts Bay Colony house, three 18th century rooms, an early 19th century bedroom, and a New England schoolroom equipped with original desks and benched. The hall, curated by the Department of Anthropology, accompanied approximately 180 x 55 feet of the second floor of the Natural History Building. |
| January 27, 1972 |  The Renwick Gallery opens in the former Corcoran Gallery of Art Building
next to Blair House, designed by James Renwick, Jr. The gallery is devoted to American
creativity in crafts, design, and decorative arts and is a curatorial branch of the
National Collection of Fine Arts, now the National Museum of American Art. |
| January 27, 1987 | Ten European ferrets (two litters of 5 kits each) are born at the National Zoo. They are the first ferrets ever born as the result of artificial insemination, one of only a few species of wild mammals giving birth after artificial insemination. |
| January 28, 1847 |  The Board of Regents passes a resolution accepting the Norman plan and
design of New York architect James Renwick, Jr., for the Smithsonian Institution Building
(the Castle). The Board also decides that the western range and western wing of the
building are to be reserved for a gallery of art. |
| January 28, 1986 | The Space Shuttle Challenger explodes during launch. As is the custom with all space launches, video monitors are set up in the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) for the visitors to witness the launch, and the disaster is witnessed by dozens in the NASM Space Hall. In later weeks the NASM is seen as "a monument to aviation's history of triumph and tragedy," and many film crews chose this site for broadcast. Visitors leave mementos, including a poem taped to the door of the Museum that Director Walter J. Boyne reads at the unveiling of a memorial to the crew, mounted before the Museum's model of the Space Shuttle Columbia. |
| January 29, 1977 | "Locks from Iran: Pre-Islamic to the Twentieth Century," opens at the National Museum of Natural History. The exhibition contains over 400 examples of Persian metalwork that illustrate the creative combination of art and technology. Locks of all size, shapes, materials and mechanisms, including examples from the early Christian era, are displayed along with photographs and text. The exhibition is produced and circulated by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. |
| January 30, 1974 |  "Patrick," the first live Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros
unicornis) born in captivity in the United States is born to National Zoological Park
rhinos "Rajkumari" and "Tarun." |
| January 31, 1986 | The Space Hall of the National Air and Space Museum is "filled to overflowing" with hundreds who come to watch the telecast of the memorial service for the crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger from Houston. |
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