Agency history, 1849-1869
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- Blodget, Lorin
- Henry, Joseph 1797-1878
- United States Weather Bureau
Category
Agency History
Notes
- This is an agency history. It does not describe actual records. The Smithsonian Institution Archives uses these histories as brief accounts of the origin, development, and functions of an office or administrative unit to set that unit in its historical context. To find information on record holdings, please double-click the highlighted field "Creator/Author", which will open on a brief view of relevant records.
- Guide to the Smithsonian Archives, 1996
- In 1848 Joseph Henry, the Smithsonian Institution's first Secretary, outlined a plan to improve the study of meteorology by obtaining weather reports from a countrywide network of voluntary observers. Work began the following year. Voluminous reports, maps, tables, and charts were prepared and published on all phases of the work -- rainfall, snowfall, temperatures, barometric pressure, storms, meteors, auroras, and other phenomena.
- The work seems to have been performed by a clerk, Lorin Blodget, under Henry's supervision. In 1869, when Congress established the Weather Bureau of the United States Signal Service, the Smithsonian system of meteorological reports was turned over to the new bureau, although some work on the records seems to have continued on an informal basis through 1875.
- For a history of the larger creating unit, refer to "Forms part of" above.
Repository Loc.
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Capital Gallery, Suite 3000, MRC 507; 600 Maryland Avenue, SW; Washington, DC 20024-2520
Date
- 1849
- 1849-1869
Topic
Meteorology
Form/Genre
Mixed archival materials
Local number
SIA AH00364