Description: Why would an English chemist donate his fortune to the United States, a newly formed country he had never visited? We will likely never know exactly why in 1826 James Smithson chose to bequeath more than half a million dollars to create the Smithsonian Institution.
Description: Helena M. WeissSmithsonian Institution Archives Oral History Collection, SIA009587As Smithsonian’s registrar for more than twenty years, Helena M. Weiss (1909-2004) had the extraordinary responsibility of recording and facilitating everything that came into and out of the United States National Museum (USNM). From bug specimens to the Hope Diamond, Weiss was in charge of