Aug 19 Second SI Secretary Spencer Baird Dies

 
 

Aug 19 Second SI Secretary Spencer Baird Dies

espositoc's picture
Year: 
1887
Month: 
august
Day: 
19
Date: 
Fri, 1887-08-19

Second Smithsonian Secretary Spencer F. Baird (1823-1887) dies at the age of sixty-four, at the headquarters of the United States Fish Commission at Wood's Hole, Massachusetts, on August 19, 1887.  An ornithologist, Baird was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian in charge of the United States National Museum in 1850 and succeeded the first Secretary, Joseph Henry, in 1878. Baird devoted his career to the establishment of the United States National Museum at the Smithsonian.