Description: A Building Worthy of Smithson's GiftWhat was the relationship between the Act of Incorporation and the historic Smithsonian Building? The act provided for a building containing an: art gallerylecture halllibrarychemical laboratorynatural history laboratoryscience museumA building that housed the multiple functions such as Congress had assigned to the Smithsonian Institution
Description: Born in 1829 to free black parents along the border between Maryland and the District of Columbia, Solomon Galleon Brown would become, at age 23, the first black employee of the Smithsonian. Starting out as a laborer in the Exchange Office, he ultimately became the personal assistant of Spencer Baird, the second secretary of the Smithsonian. By the time of his 1904 retirement,