At Home with the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives: The Hungerford Deed
Description:
Why did English chemist James Smithson donate his fortune to the United States, a country he never even visited? It’s a familiar question to the Smithsonian Institution Archives. And while we don’t necessarily have the answer, the Hungerford Deed, an 18th-century real estate contract, sheds new light on Smithson’s motivations. To celebrate the Smithsonian’s 175th anniversary in 2021, the Archives launched A Tale of Two Sisters: The Hungerford Deed and James Smithson’s Legacy, a web exhibit about the fiery conflict between Smithson’s mother, Elizabeth Macie, and his aunt, Henrietta Maria Walker, over the division of family lands inherited from their ancestors, the Hungerfords. On Thursday, August 12, at 5 pm ET curator William Bennett, a conservator at the Archives, sat down with advancement manager Gabriella Kahn to divulge the sensational stories and fascinating history that emerged from his research. Below are a few of the links shared at the event. Explore the exhibition, A Tale of Two Sisters: The Hungerford Deed and James Smithson's Legacy, here: https://siarchives.si.edu/history/tale-two-sisters Read this recent article about the Deed from Smithsonian Magazine: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/new-analysis-reveals-more-details-smithsonian-founders-family-squabble-180978393/ Learn more about parchment: https://siarchives.si.edu/blog/id-parchment Read more about Bennett’s initial preservation of the Deed: https://siarchives.si.edu/blog/tale-three-contracts Take a closer look at the handwriting that we had to decipher to read the Deed: https://siarchives.si.edu/blog/celebrating-handwriting-hungerford-deed-0 Learn about the legal framework of the Deed: https://siarchives.si.edu/blog/have-and-hold%E2%80%9D-parsing-legal-framework-hungerford-deed Read more about what Bennett learned about women’s property rights: https://siarchives.si.edu/blog/hungerford-property-history-women%E2%80%99s-rights Trace the family inheritance in the Deed: https://siarchives.si.edu/blog/tracing-inheritance-hungerford-deed See more of James Smithson’s will: https://siarchives.si.edu/history/featured-topics/stories/last-will-and-testament-october-23-1826 Become a Steward of the Hungerford Deed and be recognized with the exhibition: https://library.si.edu/donate/hungerford-deed Read more about William’s wishes for the Deed’s future: https://siarchives.si.edu/blog/happy-birthday-hungerford-deed Check out more about the enduring mysteries of the Deed: https://siarchives.si.edu/blog/enduring-mysteries-hungerford-deed
Video Duration:
1 hr 4 min 56 sec
YouTube Keywords:
archive museum Smithsonian history conservation preservation archivist