Lost and Found

Summary

• Article begins with reference to an article in the previous "Smithsonian Preservation Quarterly" concerning auctions held in 1930 and 1955 to dispose of unwanted furniture in the Smithsonian Institution's Castle Building. The author then comments that not all of that building's 19th century furniture was lost to those sales, as some additional pieces have since been located, properly identified, and added to the Castle Collection. For example, the article includes a photograph of a table used by Smithsonian Secretary Spencer Fullerton Baird. The table was thought to have been lost, but it resurfaced after having been in offices at the National Museum of American History for 30 years.
• Research conducted by staff from the Office of Architectural History and Historic Preservation traced its prior location back to the Arts and Industries Building; photographic evidence, together with an early Smithsonian inventory system, identified it as the table used by Baird.

Subject

• Baird, Spencer Fullerton 1823-1887
• National Museum of American History (U.S.) (NMAH)
• Arts and Industries Building
• Smithsonian Institution Building (Washington, D.C.)
• Office of Architectural History and Historic Preservation (OAHHP)
• Castle Collection

Category

Smithsonian Institution History Bibliography

Notes

An 1878 photograph of library table in Spencer Fullerton Baird's office accompanies the article.

Contained within

Smithsonian Preservation Quarterly (Newsletter)

Contact information

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

Date

Fall 1994

Topic

• Secretaries
• Smithsonian Institution
• SI, Early History
• Archives
• Furnishings
• Furniture

Physical description

pgs. 3 & 4

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