Description: During debates about the Smithsonian’s founding, the idea of using James Smithson’s bequest for a botanic garden was included in several drafts of the bill considered by Congress. In 1850, President Millard Fillmore commissioned America’s preeminent landscape designer Andrew Jackson Downing to design plans for the National Mall, including grounds around the Smithsonian Castle,
Description: [view in Spanish][edan-image:id=siris_sic_6874,size=185,left]Alexander Wetmore was the sixth secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He developed an early interest in natural history and published his first paper on birds at the age of thirteen. He received a B.S. from the University of Kansas (1912) and and M.S. and Ph. D. from George Washington University (1916 &