U.S. National Museum Electrified

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Summary

In 1901 and 1902, the United States Congress appropriates funds for the complete installation of electric wires and fixtures throughout the United States National Museum building, the installation being done by Museum employees. This installation extends to the public halls, offices, laboratories, storerooms, and workshops, but in the Smithsonian Institution Building it reaches only some of the offices and corridors and the dark center of the main exhibition hall. Electric lighting had been introduced in 1883.

Subject

  • Arts and Industries Building)
  • United States National Museum
  • United States Congress

Category

Chronology of Smithsonian History

Notes

  • Goode, George Brown, ed. The Smithsonian Institution, 1846-1896, The History of Its First Half Century. Washington, D.C.: De Vinne Press, 1897, p. 839.
  • Rathbun, Richard. The United States National Museum: An Account of the Buildings Occupied by the National Collections, Washington, D.C., 1905. Reprinted from the Report of the U.S. National Museum for 1903, p. 258.

Contact information

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

Date

1901

Topic

  • Architecture
  • Technology
  • Repair and reconstruction
  • Expenditures, Public
  • Buildings
  • Buildings--Repair and reconstruction

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