Description: As World War II raged throughout the world, many feared the threat of another attack on American soil. Washington, D.C., and the National Mall were obvious targets for the Axis countries which put the Smithsonian buildings and collections located there in danger. In order to protect the Smithsonian’s collections, staff took action and moved many materials off of the National
Description: Laying the Foundations: Early Schools of ThoughtWith few national institutions on which to model their thinking, many Americans built their plans for the Smithsonian around the notion of a national university.The debate moved quickly from, Should we create a national university? This page describes the 1838-1846 debates about what form the Smithsonian Institution should take.