James Smithson, founder of the Smithsonian Institute

When we visit the Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C., we are awe-struck by everything the buildings have to offer -- Judy Garland's famous shoes, the notorious Hope Diamond, the lovable Giant Pandas. However, we never really stop to think how the Smithsonian came to. For this final blog post, I would like to appreciate for a moment James Smithson, the founder of the Smithsonian Institute.


Supposed to be born in 1765, Smithson was the illegitimate child of Elizabeth Keate Macie and Hugh Smithson, 1st Duke of Northumberland ("James Smithson -- Founder Smithsonian Institute"). Studying natural history in Pembroke College, Smithson furthered his interests by becoming a chemist and a mineralogist. He gained quite an illustrious reputation as a scientist, not just as the son of a Duke. He lived a good life and was very wealthy from his family estates as well as his career. In 1826, Smithson penned his own will. Smithson died on June 27th, 1829 in Italy and buried in a British cemetery.

Smithson's Grave in Italy in 1896.

Upon his death, his nephew, Henry James Dickinson, was to inherit all his fortunes and estates. If his nephew were deceased at the time of his death, or have no heirs after, Smithson made provisions for that also. He writes in his will, "In the case of the death of my said Nephew without leaving a child or children, or the death of the child or children he may have had under the age of twenty-one years or intestate, I then bequeath the whole of my property... to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for the increase & diffusion of knowledge among men." Smithson's nephew, Henry James Dickinson, died just a mere six years later at the age of twenty-four. The money was then presented by President Andrew Jackson to Congress ("Our History"). The fortune totaled somewhere in the figure of 100,00 gold sovereigns, or roughly $500,000. The bequest was accepted on July 1st, 1836. The Smithsonian was officially established in 1847.

Smithton's Skull (ewwwww)

In 1903, Alexander Graham Bell, acting as a regent for the Smithsonian Institution, traveled to Italy to propose moving Smithson's remains to his namesake institution ("Smithson's Crypt"). The request had some hard arguing, but finally, two years after Bell first mentioned it, the plan for reburial in Washington was accepted. In 1904, Smithson was exhumed from his Italian grave site, which suffered much from poor design and weather conditions. Apparently, there wasn't too much precaution about opening up dead men's coffins back then, for in the picture to the left, a U.S. Consul is holding Smithson's skull! It is said that before the casket was sealed for the transport to America, Mrs. Bell, Alexander Graham Bell's wife, placed a wreath of cypress leaves with his coffin. The same cypress trees that lines the pathways of the Italian cemetery were he was interred for so many years.

Smithson's crypt lying in state.

 "A simple dignified mortuary chapel was then created in the room to the left of the north entrance of the Smithsonian Building by the Washington architectural firm of Hornblower & Marshall. The room featured three non-ecclesiastical stained-glass windows, a plaster ceiling with a deep cove molding and a floor made of dark Tennessee marble. The entrance to the room was sealed off by a heavy iron gate fashioned from pieces of the fence that had surrounded the Italian grave site. Photographs of the chapel show a somber and contemplative room, an effect further enhanced for the dedication ceremony by two large palm and laurel wreath arrangements flanking the Italian
marble monument. The significance of the palm as a symbol of eternal peace and the laurel wreath, emblematic of glory, made these appropriate adornments for the neo-classical tomb."

So-- the next time you are in Washington, admiring all the beautiful treasures we've just discussed in this blog, make sure to stop by the Smithsonian Castle, and pay your respects to James Smithson, the incredible founder of this incomparable national museum and institution. Without him, our rich history of not only America, but of the world, would be scattered everywhere.