Smithsonian Library in Smithsonian Institution Building West Wing
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ID: 43804-L or MAH-43804L
Creator: Unknown
Form/Genre: Engraving
Date: 1856
Citation: Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 95, Box 31A, Folder: 22
Engraving of the Smithsonian Library located in the West Wing of the Smithsonian Institution Building (SIB), or "Castle." The engraving shows balconies, which were erected in 1858, to provide additional space for books. The engraving was published in the Guidebook of 1857.
Historic Images of the Smithsonian
In "The Castle" the date of the West Wing rearrangement is listed 1857; Joseph Henry's desk diary of 1858 gives a more accurate date of January 19, 1858 (this would have still fallen in the 1857 annual report). The woodcut was probably executed in 1856 for publication in the first Smithsonian Guidebook (1857). Many of the woodcuts for that guide presented rooms in the SIB as they were planned, not as they appeared. See for example the Great Hall, which shows three tiers of exhibits, though it was never built that way.
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 95, Box 31A, Folder: 22
Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu
1856
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43804-L or MAH-43804L
Color: Black and White; Size: 8w x 10h; Type of Image: Interior; Medium: Engraving