Marsh Proposes Library for Smithson Bequest
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PrintRepresentative George Perkins Marsh, of Vermont, delivers an extensive and eloquent speech to the House of Representatives urging the construction of a great library. Though Marsh wanted to direct the James Smithson bequest entirely to the purposes of a library, due to his efforts the annual appropriation for a library increased from $20,000 to $25,000 in the final bill to establish the Institution.
Chronology of Smithsonian History
Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu
April 23, 1846