Joseph Henry's Letter to Lewis Morris Rutherford (February 14, 1868)

Summary

Letter from Joseph Henry, first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, to Lewis Morris Rutherfurd, a lawyer and astronomer, February 14, 1868. In the letter, Henry discusses the House committee on Finance's dissatisfaction with the National Academy of Sciences' report on spirit meters, the strength of alcohol produced by distilleries. He details the debate surrounding the appointing of members to the Academy Commission that produced the spirit meter results, and the resolution the Senate passed appointing a new Commission to work with existing members of the Academy. Henry asks for Rutherfurd to join the Commission, which had already began their work, in order to have another member of the Academy present.

Subject

• United States Congress House
• National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)
• United States Congress Senate

Category

Historic Images of the Smithsonian

Notes

The accompanying PDF contains SIA2012-3070, SIA2012-3071, and SIA2012-3072, which are pages scanned from the edited transcript of the original version and notes in the Joseph Henry Papers Volume 11, pages 173-175 (Document 82).

Contained within

• Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 33, Box 4, Folder: Volume 9
• Rothenberg, Marc, et al, eds., The Papers of Joseph Henry, Volume 11, The Smithsonian Years: January 1866-May 1878 (Smithsonian Institution in association with Science History Publications/USA, 2007), 173-175

Contact information

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

Date

February 14, 1868

Restrictions & Rights

No restrictions

Topic

• Law
• Appointments
• Astronomers
• Finance
• Secretaries
• Letters
• Liquors
• Lawyers
• Legislation

Form/Genre

• Document
• Paper

ID Number

SIA2012-6130 and SIA2012-6131

Physical description

Number of Images: 2; Color: Color; Size: 7.54w x 10.00h; Type of Image: Document; Medium: Paper

Full Record

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