Description: When James Smithson claimed in his will that “the best blood of England” ran through his veins, he was referring primarily to his family connection to the medieval Hungerfords.1 The Hungerfords were royal companions and powerful politicians in their heyday, and this good fortune managed to endure for centuries before dwindling away. Their family estates, passed down in some
Description: A clause in the last will and testament of English scientist James Smithson eventually led to his estate being left to the United States "to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.” There was much debate as to what constituted such an establishment, but many of the proposals