Request to Increase Smithsonian Fund

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Summary

A memorial (petition) is presented to the United States Congress by Secretary Joseph Henry on behalf of the Board of Regents asking permission to increase the permanent Smithsonian fund by a maximum of $200,000. to total $715,000. Interest on the original James Smithson bequest had accumulated while the Smithsonian Institution Building was being built and early operations of the Institution were being planned.

Subject

  • Henry, Joseph 1797-1878
  • Board of Regents
  • United States Congress

Category

Chronology of Smithsonian History

Notes

  • Goode, 1897, page 834, gives the date as January 18, which is when Joseph Henry presented the petition to the Board of Regents for approval.
  • Goode, George Brown, ed. The Smithsonian Institution, 1846-1896, The History of Its First Half Century. Washington, D.C.: De Vinne Press, 1897., p. 834
  • Rhees, William Jones. The Smithsonian Institution: Documents Relative to Its Origin and History: 1835-1899, Vol. 1, 1835-1887. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1901., p. 481-482
  • Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, volume 18, number 329. "Journals of the Proceedings of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution 1846-76, Reports of Committees, Statistics, Etc." ed. by William J. Rhees. Washington: Published by the Smithsonian Institution, 1879., p. 70-71

Contact information

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

Date

January 23, 1851

Topic

  • Smithson Bequest
  • Finance
  • Expenditures, Public

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