Walcott, Charles D. (Charles Doolittle), 1850-1927 Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Note:
The George Washington Memorial Association (GWMA) was incorporated in 1898 by a group of women to establish in Washington, D. C., a national university as envisioned
by George Washington in his farewell address in 1799. In 1899, the Washington Academy of Sciences, with a similar idea, approached the GWMA to work on this common goal. Both
organizations agreed that Washington, D. C., needed an organization that would utilize scientific and other resources of the federal government for research and would provide
graduate training not available in other academic institutions. The Washington Memorial Association, as chartered in 1901, was a private foundation independent of federal
support to meet these two goals. Walcott, as Director of the United States Geological Survey and President of the Academy, was one of the incorporators and was elected to
the Board of Trustees on May 27, 1901, and President of the Board on June 2, 1901. The Secretary of the Smithsonian was a member of the Advisory Board. Various attempts to
raise funds for the building were unsuccessful, including the proposed erection of a building for the George Washington University in 1904 and a proposed new cultural center
under the administration of the Smithsonian Board of Regents as authorized in a bill signed by President Wilson in 1913. For the latter, the cornerstone was laid in 1921 for
the George Washington Victory Memorial Building on the present site of the National Gallery of Art but the building was never constructed. These records include minutes of
several meetings between the GWMA and the Washington Academy of Sciences in 1901; histories of the GWMA program for an architectural competition as well as architectural sketches
and drawings; correspondence, particularly with Susan Whitney Dimock, President of the GWMA; a copy of the 1913 bill authorizing the construction of the Victory Memorial Building;
and organizational records including by-laws, charter, and preamble.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7004, Charles D. Walcott Collection
