Reference Request
Finding Aids to Official Records of the Smithsonian Institution Archives
Record Unit 112
Smithsonian Institution. Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum
Correspondence and Memoranda, 1879-1907
Descriptive Entry
These records comprise the primary outgoing correspondence of the officer in immediate charge of the United States National Museum from the appointment of George Brown Goode as Assistant Director in 1880. Volumes are numbered sequentially with the prefix "L." Records from the years 1879-1881 mostly pertain to the United States Fish Commission, and Commission business is included through the year of Spencer Fullerton Baird's death in 1887. In 1888, Goode was made Assistant Secretary in Charge of the United States National Museum. After Goode's death in 1896, the business of this office was administered for a time by the Executive Curator, Frederick W. True. Richard Rathbun became Assistant Secretary in 1898, but most correspondence in this series in the period 1896-1902 is signed by the Executive Curator; after that, most is signed by the Assistant Secretary.
Several peculiarities of this record series should be noted. Predominance of Fish Commission correspondence in the pre-1881 years has been described. Although volumes are numbered sequentially, dates do not always follow in strict chronological order; sometimes special books were designated for an official to use when out of the city or when discharging special duties. Many letters are signed by subordinates and quite a few are signed by the Secretary or by the Assistant Secretary as Acting Secretary. Apparently, the sequential numbering was imposed at a later date than the earliest volumes, although the exact time of numbering is not known. These records were in the custody of the Registrar for many years.
Index Terms
This collection is indexed under the following access terms. These are links to collections with related topics, persons or places.
Name
- Goode, G. Brown (George Brown), 1851-1896
- Rathbun, Richard, 1852-1918
- True, Frederick William, 1858-1914
- United States Fish Commission
- United States National Museum
- United States National Museum. Executive Curator
- United States National Museum. Office of the Registrar
- Walcott, Charles D. (Charles Doolittle), 1850-1927
Subject
Physical Characteristics of Materials in the Collection
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 112, Smithsonian Institutio, Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum, Correspondence and Memoranda