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: New Year's edition!10 years of beautiful bookish art from the Brooklyn Public Library. [via Hyperallergic]You can now tour online 9 floors and 85 permanent galleries of the British Museum which includes 80,000 artifacts. [via Open Culture]More good open access news: American Jewish literary news and opinion works spanning 2nd half of the 20th century is now available freely