These records are the official minutes of the Board. They are compiled at the direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian, who is also secretary to the Board, after
approval by the Regents' Executive Committee and by the Regents themselves. The minutes are edited, not a verbatim account of proceedings. For reasons unknown, there are no
manuscript minutes for the period from 1857 through 1890; and researchers must rely on printed minutes published in the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution instead.
Minutes are transferred regularly from the Secretary's Office to the Archives. Minutes less than 15 years old are closed to researchers. Indexes exist for the period from
1907 to 1946 and can be useful.
Historical Note:
The Smithsonian Institution was created by authority of an Act of Congress approved August 10, 1846. The Act entrusted direction of the Smithsonian to a body called
the Establishment, composed of the President; the Vice President; the Chief Justice of the United States; the secretaries of State, War, Navy, Interior, and Agriculture; the
Attorney General; and the Postmaster General. In fact, however, the Establishment last met in 1877, and control of the Smithsonian has always been exercised by its Board of
Regents. The membership of the Regents consists of the Vice President and the Chief Justice of the United States; three members each of the Senate and House of Representatives;
two citizens of the District of Columbia; and seven citizens of the several states, no two from the same state. (Prior to 1970 the category of Citizen Regents not residents
of Washington consisted of four members). By custom the Chief Justice is Chancellor. The office was at first held by the Vice President. However, when Millard Fillmore succeeded
to the presidency on the death of Zachary Taylor in 1851, Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney was chosen in his stead. The office has always been filled by the Chief Justice
since that time.
The Regents of the Smithsonian have included distinguished Americans from many walks of life. Ex officio members (Vice President) have been: Spiro T. Agnew, Chester A.
Arthur, Allen W. Barkley, John C. Breckenridge, George Bush, Schuyler Colfax, Calvin Coolidge, Charles Curtis, George M. Dallas, Charles G. Dawes, Charles W. Fairbanks, Millard
Fillmore, Gerald R. Ford, John N. Garner, Hannibal Hamlin, Thomas A. Hendricks, Garret A. Hobart, Hubert H. Humphrey, Andrew Johnson, Lyndon B. Johnson, William R. King, Thomas
R. Marshall, Walter F. Mondale, Levi P. Morton, Richard M. Nixon, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Theodore Roosevelt, James S. Sherman, Adlai E. Stevenson, Harry S. Truman, Henry A.
Wallace, William A. Wheeler, Henry Wilson.
Ex officio members (Chief Justice) have been: Roger B. Taney, Salmon P. Chase, Nathan Clifford, Morrison R. Waite, Samuel F. Miller, Melville W. Fuller, Edward D. White,
William Howard Taft, Charles Evans Hughes, Harlan F. Stone, Fred M. Vinson, Earl Warren, Warren E. Burger.
Regents on the part of the Senate have been: Clinton P. Anderson, Newton Booth, Sidney Breese, Lewis Cass, Robert Milledge Charlton, Bennet Champ Clark, Francis M. Cockrell,
Shelby Moore Cullom, Garrett Davis, Jefferson Davis, George Franklin Edmunds, George Evans, Edwin J. Garn, Walter F. George, Barry Goldwater, George Gray, Hannibal Hamlin,
Nathaniel Peter Hill, George Frisbie Hoar, Henry French Hollis, Henry M. Jackson, William Lindsay, Henry Cabot Lodge, Medill McCormick, James Murray Mason, Samuel Bell Maxey,
Robert B. Morgan, Frank E. Moss, Claiborne Pell, George Wharton Pepper, David A. Reed, Leverett Saltonstall, Hugh Scott, Alexander H. Smith, Robert A. Taft, Lyman Trumbull,
Wallace H. White, Jr., Robert Enoch Withers.
Regents on the part of the House of Representatives have included: Edward P. Boland, Frank T. Bow, William Campbell Breckenridge, Overton Brooks, Benjamin Butterworth,
Clarence Cannon, Lucius Cartrell, Hiester Clymer, William Colcock, William P. Cole, Jr., Maurice Connolly, Silvio O. Conte, Edward E. Cox, Edward H. Crump, John Dalzell, Nathaniel
Deering, Hugh A. Dinsmore, William English, John Farnsworth, Scott Ferris, Graham Fitch, James Garfield, Charles L. Gifford, T. Alan Goldsborough, Frank L. Greene, Gerry Hazleton,
Benjamin Hill, Henry Hilliard, Ebenezer Hoar, William Hough, William M. Howard, Albert Johnson, Leroy Johnson, Joseph Johnston, Michael Kirwan, James T. Lloyd, Robert Luce,
Robert McClelland, Samuel K. McConnell, Jr., George H. Mahon, George McCrary, Edward McPherson, James R. Mann, George Perkins Marsh, Norman Y. Mineta, A. J. Monteague, R.
Walton Moore, Walter H. Newton, Robert Dale Owen, James Patterson, William Phelps, Luke Poland, John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn, B. Carroll Reece, Ernest W. Roberts, Otho Robards
Singleton, Frank Thompson, Jr., John M. Vorys, Hiram Warner, Joseph Wheeler.
Citizen Regents have been: David C. Acheson, Louis Agassiz, James B. Angell, Anne L. Armstrong, William Backhouse Astor, J. Paul Austin, Alexander Dallas Bache, George
Edmund Badger, George Bancroft, Alexander Graham Bell, James Gabriel Berrett, John McPherson Berrien, Robert W. Bingham, Sayles Jenks Bowen, William G. Bowen, Robert S. Brookings,
John Nicholas Brown, William A. M. Burden, Vannevar Bush, Charles F. Choate, Jr., Rufus Choate, Arthur H. Compton, Henry David Cooke, Henry Coppee, Samuel Sullivan Cox, Edward
H. Crump, James Dwight Dana, Harvey N. Davis, William Lewis Dayton, Everette Lee Degolyer, Richard Delafield, Frederic A. Delano, Charles Devens, Matthew Gault Emery, Cornelius
Conway Felton, Robert V. Fleming, Murray Gell-Mann, Robert F. Goheen, Asa Gray, George Gray, Crawford Hallock Greenwalt, Nancy Hanks, Caryl Parker Haskins, Gideon Hawley,
John B. Henderson, John B. Henderson, Jr., A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., Gardner Greene Hubbard, Charles Evans Hughes, Carlisle H. Humelsine, Jerome C. Hunsaker, William Preston
Johnston, Irwin B. Laughlin, Walter Lenox, Augustus P. Loring, John Maclean, William Beans Magruder, John Walker Maury, Montgomery Cunningham Meigs, John C. Merriam, R. Walton
Moore, Roland S. Morris, Dwight W. Morrow, Richard Olney, Peter Parker, Noah Porter, William Campbell Preston, Owen Josephus Roberts, Richard Rush, William Winston Seaton,
Alexander Roby Shepherd, William Tecumseh Sherman, Otho Robards Singleton, Joseph Gilbert Totten, John Thomas Towers, Frederic C. Walcott, Richard Wallach, Thomas J. Watson,
Jr., James E. Webb, James Clarke Welling, Andrew Dickson White, Henry White, Theodore Dwight Woolsey.
These records, together with record units 80, 81, and 187 contain full documentation of construction of the 1911 National Museum Building, from internal planning and
contracts to construction details and costs. Rathbun prepared a history of the museum construction, which was published as A Descriptive Account of the Building Recently
Erected for the Departments of Natural History of the United States National Museum. United States National Museum Bulletin 80, Washington, 1913.
Historical Note:
In 1903 Congress authorized the Board of Regents to begin a new museum building, construction to be under the direction of Bernard R. Green, Superintendent of Buildings
and Grounds of the Library of Congress. Construction began in June 1904 and ended in 1911. Richard Rathbun, Assistant Secretary, spent much of his time from 1901 to 1911 planning
and supervising construction of the new building, including extensive consultation with foreign and domestic museum experts.
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 79, Smithsonian Institution, Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum, National Museum Building Construction Records
Folders 4-5 1907. Includes much correspondence regarding the delay of granite shipments due to poor transportation. Material of special interest includes: correspondence of Ravenel and James S. Goldsmith (02/08/1907) describing in detail the wiring, he...
Container:
Box 2 of 15
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 79, Smithsonian Institution, Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum, National Museum Building Construction Records
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 79, Smithsonian Institution, Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum, National Museum Building Construction Records
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 79, Smithsonian Institution, Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum, National Museum Building Construction Records
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 79, Smithsonian Institution, Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum, National Museum Building Construction Records
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 79, Smithsonian Institution, Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum, National Museum Building Construction Records
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 79, Smithsonian Institution, Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum, National Museum Building Construction Records
GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1901-1916, 1923. ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY.
Type:
Archival materials
Note:
This collection division consists of the main correspondence file of Richard Rathbun, as the Smithsonian official charged with overseeing the construction of the
new museum building. The correspondence documents the day-to-day planning and construction of the building. Material of particular interest includes correspondence regarding
the design and construction of foreign museums, and the role of the Smithsonian's Board of Regents and of the United States Congress in the planning and construction of the
building. Correspondents include Bernard Richard Green; the architects Joseph C. Hornblower and John R. Marshall; Samuel P. Langley; Charles D. Walcott, Acting Secretary;
Cyrus Adler; William deC. Ravenel, Administrative Assistant; Frederick William True, Head Curator, Department of Biology; George P. Merrill, Head Curator, Department of Geology;
and James S. Goldsmith, Superintendent of Construction and Labor.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 79, Smithsonian Institution, Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum, National Museum Building Construction Records
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 79, Smithsonian Institution, Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum, National Museum Building Construction Records
Folder 1 1901. Includes correspondence with Smithsonian Institution curators regarding allocation of space in the proposed building. Material of special interest includes: correspondence with William Harris Ashmead, Division of Insects (02/14/1901) con...
Container:
Box 1 of 15
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 79, Smithsonian Institution, Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum, National Museum Building Construction Records
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 79, Smithsonian Institution, Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum, National Museum Building Construction Records
Folder 2 1902. Includes numerous correspondence concerning descriptions of foreign museums and the construction and maintenance cost of each. Material of special interest includes: transcripts of the hearings before the House of Representatives (03/08/...
Container:
Box 1 of 15
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 79, Smithsonian Institution, Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum, National Museum Building Construction Records
Folders 3-4 1903. Includes correspondence with heads of foreign museums regarding the physical structures and finances of their buildings. Includes correspondence between Samuel P. Langley, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and John Brooks Hend...
Container:
Box 1 of 15
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 79, Smithsonian Institution, Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum, National Museum Building Construction Records
Folders 5-6 1904. Includes correspondence regarding the approval of Prof. S. Homer Woodbridge as mechanical engineer for the proposed building. Includes correspondence regarding the anonymous gift to the Museum of a John Elliott painting. Also included...
Container:
Box 1 of 15
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 79, Smithsonian Institution, Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum, National Museum Building Construction Records
NOTES, EXTRACTS, AND COMPILATIONS FROM THE CORRESPONDENCE AND REPORTS, 1901-1910.
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 79, Smithsonian Institution, Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum, National Museum Building Construction Records
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 79, Smithsonian Institution, Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum, National Museum Building Construction Records
Folder 1 Important extracts from the correspondence. This folder contains typewritten copies of sections of important correspondence presumably contained in collection division 1, mainly concerning revisions and approval of the preliminary plans. Inclu...
Container:
Box 10 of 15
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 79, Smithsonian Institution, Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum, National Museum Building Construction Records
Folder 2 Contracts between Green and Contractors, 1903-1908.Includes extract from contracts for the construction of the National History Building. Includes the recommendations of Superintendent Green and the approval of the Secretary.
Container:
Box 10 of 15
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 79, Smithsonian Institution, Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum, National Museum Building Construction Records
Folder 3 Space Allocations. Includes tables proposing the dimensions of each floor. Includes tables proposing the division of each floor into the offices of the administration and into the departments of anthropology, biology, and geology. Includes tab...
Container:
Box 10 of 15
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 79, Smithsonian Institution, Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum, National Museum Building Construction Records
![view Folders 4-5 1907. Includes much correspondence regarding the delay of granite shipments due to poor transportation. Material of special interest includes: correspondence of Ravenel and James S. Goldsmith (02/08/1907) describing in detail the wiring, he... digital asset: Letter to Samuel Langley from Bernard Green, dated February 19, 1907 (Folder 4). [Image Nos. SIA2013-02590 through SIA2013-02593]](https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?max=170&id=https://sirismm.si.edu/siris/electronicresource.gif "Letter to Samuel Langley from Bernard Green, dated February 19, 1907 (Folder 4). [Image Nos. SIA2013-02590 through SIA2013-02593]")
![View Folder 2 Plates for Bulletin 80. digital asset: Plan of Smithsonian Park. [Image No. SIA2009-1817]](https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?max=120&id=https://sirismm.si.edu/siris/electronicresource.gif "Plan of Smithsonian Park. [Image No. SIA2009-1817]")
