Citizendia

The Smithsonian Institution Building or "Castle" on the National Mall serves as the Institution's headquarters.
The Smithsonian Institution Building or "Castle" on the National Mall serves as the Institution's headquarters. For similar uses and terms see Smithsonian (disambiguation. The Smithsonian Institution Building, located on the National Mall in The National Mall is an open-area National park in Downtown Washington D

The Smithsonian Institution (pronounced /smɪθˈsəʊniən/) is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazine. A museum is a "permanent institution in the service of society and of its development open to the public which acquires conserves researches communicates and exhibits the The federal government of the United States is the central United States Governmental body established by the United States Constitution. A financial endowment is a Transfer of Money or Property donated to an Institution, usually with the stipulation that it be invested Most of its facilities are located in Washington, D.C., but its 19 museums, zoo, and eight research centers include sites in New York City, Virginia, Panama, and elsewhere. Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D The City of New York The Commonwealth of Virginia ( is an American state Panama, officially the Republic of Panama (República de Panamá) is the southernmost country of Central America. It has over 142 million items in its collections.

A monthly magazine published by the Smithsonian Institution is also named Smithsonian. Magazines, periodicals or serials are Publications generally published on a regular schedule containing a variety of articles, generally Smithsonian is a monthly Magazine published by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D

The Smithsonian Police protects the visitors, staff and property of the museums. The Smithsonian Institution Office of Protection Services is the guard force of the Smithsonian Institution.

Smithsonian Networks is a new multiplatform network that uses Smithsonian archives and resources to create original HD programming. Smithsonian Networks (SNI/SI is a joint venture between Showtime Networks and the Smithsonian Institution.

Contents

History

The Smithsonian Institution was founded for the "increase and diffusion" of knowledge by a bequest to the United States by the British scientist James Smithson (1765–1829), who had never visited the United States himself. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927 For related terms see Smithsonian (disambiguation. James Smithson F In Smithson's will, he stated that should his nephew, Henry James Hungerford, die without heirs, the Smithson estate would go to the government of the United States for creating an "Establishment for the increase & diffusion of Knowledge among men". After the nephew died without heirs in 1835, President Andrew Jackson informed Congress of the bequest, which amounted to 104,960 gold sovereigns, or US$500,000 ($9,235,277 in 2005 U. Andrew Jackson (March 15 1767 June 8 1845 was the seventh President of the United States (1829&ndash1837 The United States Congress is the bicameral Legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses A Gold Sovereign is a Gold coin first issued in 1489 for Henry VII of England and still in production as of 2008 The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been S. dollars after inflation).

Eight years later, Congress passed an act establishing the Smithsonian Institution, a hybrid public/private partnership, and the act was signed into law on August 10, 1846 by James Polk. Events 612 BC - Killing of Sinsharishkun, King of Assyrian Empire For the game see 1846 (board game. Year 1846 ( MDCCCXLVI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display James Knox Polk ( November 2 1795&ndashJune 15 1849 was the eleventh President of the United States, serving from March 4 1845 to March 4 1849 (See 20 U.S.C. § 41 (Ch. Title 20 of the United States Code outlines the role of education in the United States Code. 178, Sec. 1, 9 Stat. 102). ) The bill was drafted by Indiana Democratic Congressman Robert Dale Owen, a Socialist and son of Robert Owen, the father of the cooperative movement. The State of Indiana ( was the 19th US state admitted into the union The Democratic Party is one of two major Political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. A Member of Congress is a Politician who is a member of a Congress. Robert Dale Owen ( November 7, 1801 &ndash June 24, 1877) was a longtime exponent in his adopted United States of the socialist Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution Robert Owen (14 May 1771 – 17 Nov 1858 born in Newtown, Montgomeryshire, Wales was a social reformer and one of the founders of Socialism The history of the cooperative movement concerns the origins and history of Cooperatives Although cooperative arrangements such as Mutual insurance, and principles

The crenellated architecture of the Smithsonian Institution Building on the National Mall has made it known informally as "The Castle". Crenellation (or crenelation, also known as castellation) is the name for the distinctive pattern that frames the tops of the walls of many medieval Castles For similar uses and terms see Smithsonian (disambiguation. The Smithsonian Institution Building, located on the National Mall in The National Mall is an open-area National park in Downtown Washington D It was built by architect James Renwick, Jr. and completed in 1855. James Renwick Jr (b November 11, 1818, Bloomingdale New York - d Many of the Institution's other buildings are historical and architectural landmarks. Detroit philanthropist Charles Lang Freer's donation of his private collection for Freer Gallery, and funds to build the museum, was among the Smithsonian's first major donations from a private individual. Charles Lang Freer (1854 – 1919 was an American Railroad -car manufacturer from Detroit Michigan who gave to the United States his art collections and The Freer Gallery of Art is the Smithsonian Institution 's museum of East Asian art including Art from East Asia ( China, Korea

Though the Smithsonian's first secretary, Joseph Henry, wanted the Institution to be a center for scientific research, before long it became the depository for various Washington and U. S. government collections.

The voyage of the U.S. Navy circumnavigated the globe between 1838 and 1842. The United States Exploring Expedition amassed thousands of animal specimens, an herbarium of 50,000 examples, shells and minerals, tropical birds, jars of seawater and ethnographic specimens from the South Pacific. The United States Exploring Expedition was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean ("the Southern Seas" conducted by the United States Navy from These specimens and artifacts became part of the Smithsonian collections, as did those collected by the military and civilian surveys in the American West, such as the Mexican Boundary Survey and Pacific Railroad Surveys, which assembled many Native American artifacts as well as natural history specimens. The United States and Mexican Boundary Survey (1848-1855 set the boundary between the United States and Mexico according to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the The Pacific Railroad Surveys (1853-1855 explored possible routes for a Transcontinental railroad across North America Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States

The Institution became a magnet for natural scientists from 1857 to 1866, who formed a group called the Megatherium Club. The Megatherium Club was founded by William Stimpson. It was a group of Washington D

The asteroid 3773 Smithsonian is named in honor of the Institution. Asteroids, sometimes called Minor planets or planetoids', are bodies—primarily of the inner Solar System —that are smaller than planets but 3773 Smithsonian is a small main belt Asteroid. It was discovered by astronomers at the Oak Ridge Observatory in 1984.

Administration

The Smithsonian Castle doorway
The Smithsonian Castle doorway

The Smithsonian Institution is established as a trust instrumentality by act of Congress, and it is functionally and legally a body of the federal government. In Common law legal systems a trust is an arrangement whereby Property (including real tangible and intangible is managed by one person (or persons or organizations More than two-thirds of the Smithsonian's workforce of some 6,300 persons are employees of the federal government. The Smithsonian is represented by attorneys from the United States Department of Justice in litigation, and money judgments against the Smithsonian are also paid out of the federal treasury. For animal rights group see Justice Department (JD The United States Department of Justice ( DOJ) is a Cabinet department

The nominal head of the Institution is the Chancellor, an office which has always been held by the current Chief Justice of the United States. A Chancellor is the head of a University. Other titles are sometimes used such as President or Rector. The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the judicial branch of the government of the United States, and presides over the U The affairs of the Smithsonian are conducted by its 17-member board of regents, eight members of which constitute a quorum for the conduct of business. Eight of the regents are United States officials: the Vice President (one of his few official legal duties) and the Chief Justice of the United States, three United States Senators appointed by the Vice President in his capacity as President of the Senate, and three Members of the U.S. House of Representatives appointed by the Speaker of the House. The Vice President of the United States is the first person in the presidential line of succession, becoming the new President of the United States upon the death The United States House of Representatives is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress; the other is the Senate. The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives is the presiding officer&mdashor speaker &mdashof the United States House of Representatives. The remaining nine regents are "persons other than Members of Congress", who are appointed by joint resolution of Congress. Regents are allowed reimbursement for their expenses in connection with attendance at meetings, but their service as regents is uncompensated. The day-to-day operations of the Smithsonian are supervised by a salaried "Secretary" chosen by the board of regents.

Secretaries of the Smithsonian

  1. Joseph Henry, 1846–1878
  2. Spencer Fullerton Baird, 1878–1887
  3. Samuel Pierpont Langley, 1887–1906
  4. Charles Doolittle Walcott, 1907–1927
  5. Charles Greeley Abbot, 1928–1944
  6. Alexander Wetmore, 1944–1952
  7. Leonard Carmichael, 1953–1964
  8. Sidney Dillon Ripley, 1964–1984
  9. Robert McCormick Adams, 1984–1994
  10. Ira Michael Heyman, 1994–1999
  11. Lawrence M. Small, 2000–2007
  12. Cristián Samper (Acting Secretary), 2007–2008
  13. G. Wayne Clough, 2008-

Cristián Samper is the first Latin American to hold the position. Joseph Henry ( December 17 1797 &ndash May 13 1878) was an American scientist who served as the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Spencer Fullerton Baird ( February 3, 1823 &ndash August 19, 1887) was an American ornithologist and Ichthyologist Samuel Pierpont Langley (August 22 1834 Roxbury Massachusetts &ndash February 27 1906 Aiken South Carolina) was an American Astronomer Charles Doolittle Walcott ( March 31 1850 &ndash February 9 1927) was an American Invertebrate Paleontologist Charles Greeley Abbot ( May 31, 1872 &ndash December 17, 1973) was an American Astrophysicist, Astronomer Frank Alexander Wetmore ( June 18, 1886 &ndash December 7, 1978) was an American Ornithologist and avian Paleontologist Leonard Carmichael (1898 — 1973 was a US Educator and Psychologist. Sidney Dillon Ripley ( 20 September 1913 - 12 March 2001) was a noted American ornithologist and leader in Wildlife Robert McCormick Adams Jr (born July 23, 1926) is a US Anthropologist. Ira Michael Heyman is an Emeritus Professor of Law and of City and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley Lawrence M Small was the President and Chief Operating Officer of the Federal National Mortgage Association and the 11th Secretary of the Smithsonian Gerald Wayne Clough is the former president of the Georgia Institute of Technology. Born in Costa Rica, he was raised in Colombia from the age of one. Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( Spanish: Costa Rica or República de Costa Rica,) is a Country in Colombia (kəˈlʌmbɪə officially the Republic of Colombia () is a country in northwestern South America. He received his Bachelor's degree in Biology from the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá and his Ph. Universidad de los Andes (also known as Uniandes) is a Private university located in Bogotá, Colombia. Bogotá —officially named Bogotá DC (DC for " Distrito Capital " which means "Capital District" formerly called Santa Fe de Bogotá D. from Harvard University. He is one of the founders of the Von Humboldt Institute in Colombia, and since 2003 has been the director of the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. See The Secretaries of the Smithsonian Institution

Office of Protection

The Smithsonian Office Of Protection oversees security at the Smithsonian Facilities. The National Museum of Natural History is a Natural history Museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D Federal Code authorizes the secretary of the Smithsonian to designate certain positions within the agency to have Special Police Status in order to permit the employee to enforce certain regulations within the Smithsonian facilities and grounds as well as areas of the National Capital Parks in D. C.

According to U. S Code title 40 Chpt 63 Sec. 6306 Smithsonian staff who are designated as Special police "may, within the specified buildings and grounds, enforce,and make arrests for violations of, sections 6302 and 6303 of this title, any regulation prescribed under section 6304 of this title, federal or state law, or any regulation prescribed under federal or state law; and (2) may enforce concurrently with the United States Park Police the laws and regulations applicable to the National Capital Parks, and may make arrests for violations of sections 6302 and 6303 of this title, within the several areas located within the exterior boundaries of the face of the curb lines of the squares within which the specified buildings and grounds are located. The United States Park Police (USPP is the oldest uniformed federal law enforcement agency in the United States. "

The Office of Protection has three Main positions within the division which are all U. S Government Positions:

Smithsonian Museum Protection Officers/Guards undergo three weeks of specialized training which includes firearm use, arrest procedures, handcuffing and OC Spray use and are assigned to one of 19 Smithsonian Museum or Research sites in New York City or the District of Columbia

Smithsonian Museum Physical Security Specialists and Supervisory Physical Security Specialists assist in overseeing the daily protection operations of the various Museum Sites. Each Specialist is assigned to one of the Smithsonian sites in NY or DC

Smithsonian Zoological Police Officers are assigned to the 163-acre (0. 66 km²) National Zoo owned by the Smithsonian in the District Of Columbia. Zoological officers receive specialized Police Officer training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC)

Smithsonian museums

A variety of aircraft displayed at the National Air and Space Museum. Most notable: Ford Trimotor and Douglas DC-3 (top and second from top)
A variety of aircraft displayed at the National Air and Space Museum. The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center ( FLETC) serves as an interagency law enforcement training organization for 82 United States Government Federal Law Enforcement Most notable: Ford Trimotor and Douglas DC-3 (top and second from top)

Washington, D. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout C.

New York, NY

Chantilly, VA

In addition, there are many museums that are Smithsonian affiliates. The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, a subsidiary of the Smithsonian Institution, is the United States ' National museum of design history and contemporary The George Gustav Heye Center is the branch in New York City of the National Museum of the American Indian, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution The Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM's annex at Washington Dulles International Airport in

Smithsonian research centers

The following is a list of Smithsonian research centers, with their affiliated museum in parentheses:

In popular culture

Controversy

In 2003, a National Museum of Natural History exhibit, Subhankar Banerjee's "Seasons of Life and Land," featuring photographs of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was censored and moved to the basement by Smithsonian officials because they feared that its subject matter was too politically controversial. The National Museum of Natural History is a Natural history Museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ( ANWR) is a National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Alaska. [1]

The Smithsonian Institution has been criticised for strong copyright restrictions[2][3] imposed on its image collections which overwhelmingly consist of public domain content dating to the 19th century. An image without a Smithsonian watermark and at a resolution suitable for publication requires an expensive licensing fee (unless covered under Fair Use provisions), manual approval by the Smithsonian staff, and the restriction of any further use without permission.

This conflicts with the institution's own policy in a 2005 memo, in which it asserted, "The Smithsonian cannot own copyright in works prepared by Smithsonian employees paid from federal funds",[4] as well as the institution's own charter by the U. S. Congress to "increase and diffuse knowledge. "

In April of 2006, the institution entered into an agreement of "first refusal" rights for its vast silent and public domain film archives with Showtime Networks. The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone Showtime Networks Inc (SNI is the corporate division of Media conglomerate CBS Corporation. Critics contend this agreement effectively gives Showtime control over the film archives, as it requires filmmakers to obtain permission from the network to use extensive amounts of film footage from the Smithsonian archives. [5]

In November of 2007 the Washington Post reported that internal criticism has been raised regarding the institution's handling of an exhibit on the Arctic. The Washington Post is the largest and most circulated Newspaper in Washington D According to documents and emails, the exhibit and its associated presentation were edited at high levels to add "scientific uncertainty" regarding the nature and impact of global warming on the Arctic. Acting Secretary of the Smithsonian Cristián Samper was interviewed by the post and claimed that the exhibit was edited because it contained conclusions that went beyond what could be proven by contemporary climatology. [6]

References

  1. ^ Smithsonian's Arctic Refuge Exhibit Draws Senate Scrutiny (washingtonpost.com)
  2. ^ Smithsonian Images-Copyright
  3. ^ Use of Content from Smithsonian Website
  4. ^ Smithsonian Institution-Office of General Counsel
  5. ^ "Smithsonian Agreement Angers Filmmakers," New York Times, April 1, 2006.
  6. ^ "Scientists Fault Climate Exhibit Changes", Washington Post, 2007-11-16, pp. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 534 - A second and final revision of the Codex Justinianus is published  4. Retrieved on 2007-11-18. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 326 - The old St Peter's Basilica is consecrated 1302 - Pope Boniface VIII issues the Papal bull  

Further reading

External links

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