Smithsonian Institution: General Hearings before the Subcommittee on Library and Memorials

Summary

In 1970, the Subcommittee on Library and Memorials of the Committee on House Administration of the United States Congress held a series of hearing on the management of the Smithsonian. Known informally as the Thompson Committee Hearings, after chair Frank Thompson, Jr., the subcommittee took the first comprehensive look at the Smithsonian Institution since its founding in 1846. The hearings addressed the current management of the Smithsonian by Secretary S. Dillon Ripley, controversies surrounding the establishment of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden as part of the Smithsonian, and the lack of progress in building a National Air and Space Museum. Senator Barry Goldwater played a major role in reviewing progress on NASM.
In this comprehensive review, the subcommittee looked at virtually all aspects of the Smithsonian, including its finances, management practices, and specific programs in the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum, Foreign Currency Program, Freer Gallery of Art, National Collection of Fine Arts (later the National Museum of American Art), National Museum of History and Technology (later the National Museum of American History), National Museum of Natural History, National Portrait Gallery, Office of Academic Programs, Office of Environmental Sciences, Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, Division of Performing Arts, Radiation Biology Laboratory, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

Two Volumes. Hearings held in Washington, D.C., July, 1970. Ninety-First Congress, Second Session.
The full text of the hearings can be found at: http://archive.org/stream/smithsonianit9121970smit/smithsonianit9121970smit_djvu.txt

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

1971