Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Ledger drawings
Date:
n.d
Scope and Contents:
Leatherbound pocket notebook of ruled paper, containing 27 drawings, 3 with associated horse tracks on facing page. Most of the drawings depict individual men on horseback dressed in finery, but there are also five scenes of warfare, two of courting, and one of two feathered lances. Storekeeper's account entered on first page. Many pages were loose from the binding when inventory numbers were assigned. The original order was reconstructed and the volume rebound in 2002.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 4452-b
General:
This work of art was conserved with a Save America's Treasures program grant.
Contains handwritten transactional entries plus affixed drug store and pharmacist labels.
Series Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Series Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Series Citation:
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Whiskey, Liquor, and Spirits, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
3 Folders (Notes on loose papers, disassembled notebook, and pocket notebook)
Type:
Archival materials
Place:
Dholpur (India : District)
Agra (India)
India
Scope and Contents:
Notes and diaries related to Ms. Moynihan's research, surveys and excavation of the Lotus Garden in Dholpur, India, as well as travel in Agra, Jhor and locality.
Biographical / Historical:
Elizabeth Moynihan is an architectural historian and author, specializing in the study of Mughal gardens in India. She served on the Indo-U.S. Sub-Commission on Education and Culture for many years. While living in India, Ms. Moynihan authored a survey of surviving Moghul gardens, which was published in 1979 as "Paradise as a Garden in Persia and Moghul India." She also did research on Babur, the founder of the Moghul dynasty. In the process, she located and documented four previously unknown 16th century gardens built by Babur.
Local Numbers:
FSA A2013.06 01.01.11
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce and publish an item from the Archives is coordinated through the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery's Rights and Reproductions department. Please contact the Archives in order to initiate this process.
The Elizabeth Moynihan Collection. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Elizabeth Moynihan, 2013.
Russell E. Train Africana Collection (Smithsonian. Libraries) Search this
Extent:
1 Item (Manuscripts (document genre), 6.5 x 9 x 1 in.)
Container:
Item M119
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1876 May
Scope and Contents note:
Contains notes and sketches (one by James Frederic Elton) made on the journey taken by Oates and Elton in May 1876 along the coast of Mozambique. The trip, which was a hunting expedition, is described by Elton in his Travels and researches among the lakes and mountains of eastern and central Africa.
General note:
M119 is accession number in the Russell E. Train inventory list, of the Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History.
Collection Rights:
The collection is housed in the Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History, which is open to researchers Monday through Friday in the afternoons, from 1:30 to 5:00 p.m.; morning visits are by appointment only. Please call (202) 633-1184 or email AskaLibrarian@si.edu for an appointment.
Writings by Jacob Kainen include essays about Arshile Gorky, Raphael Soyer, John Dowell, and the Works Progress Administration. Mainstream art, New York in the 1930s, and art in the 1930s are topics addressed in the lectures included in this series. Also found is poetry written by Jacob Kainen as well as several of his pocket notebooks and travel notebooks.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection Rights:
The Jacob Kainen papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Jacob Kainen papers, 1905-2008, bulk 1940-2001. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection Rights:
The Jacob Kainen papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Jacob Kainen papers, 1905-2008, bulk 1940-2001. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection Rights:
The Max Weber papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Max Weber papers, 1902-2008. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at http://airandspace.si.edu/permissions
Collection Citation:
Joseph D. Mountain Collection, Acc. 1991-0079, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Drawings of scenes of individual warriors, courting, hunting, various animals, and a dance.The drawings are in a small bound pocket notebook with pages of ruled paper, covers repaired with cloth tape. Inscription on flyleaf reads: "By our special artist Roan Eagle."
Biographical / Historical:
Dr. V.T. McGillycuddy identified himself in a 1932 letter to the BAE as having served as attending surgeon with the US Army in the field during the Indian campaigns 1876-78, and as Indian Agent in charge of Red Cloud's Sioux from 1879 to 1886. In later years, he was president of the South Dakota Society of California and maintained correspondence with the BAE regarding his Indian experiences.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 387,048
Album Information:
MS 387,048 001
Genre/Form:
Ledger drawings
Citation:
Manuscript 387,048, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Edwards, Llewellyn Nathaniel, 1873-1952 Search this
Collection Source:
Work and Industry, Division of, NMAH, SI Search this
Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Division of [former name], NMAH, SI. Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1916 - 1933
Scope and Contents:
This series contains notes and writing by Edwards. The material is primarily typescript and relates to his research about bridges. Includes are some small pocket notebooks containing notes and bibliographic information about bridges
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Llewellyn N. Edwards Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
182 Items (typed unbound pages with solid wood covers)
Container:
Box 1, Folder 9
Type:
Archival materials
Diaries
Place:
China
Beijing (China)
China -- Description and Travel
Date:
1925-1926
Scope and Contents note:
Binding removed, 9 ½" x 6". 182 pages. First entry, 30 June 1925. Last entry, 13 March 1926. Inscribed, "The Memoirs of MA". Wood cover. In the introduction, March wrote, "Chronicles of Benjamin" had, for three years, served as a journal, notebook, and record for himself of places he visited. Said that since he's now not alone that it is fitting to rename his notes, "Memoirs of MA." (Chinese name of his family). ["Chronicles of Benjamin" may be found in Series V, subseries B, photo albums.]
Scope and Contents:
A diary typed by the young Chinese art scholar Benjamin March from June 1925 to March 1926 describing his life in China. Events include March's marriage to the author Dorothy Rowe (1898-1969) in Nanjing, their honeymoon in Hangzhou and Suzhou, and their subsequent life in Beijing. March describes hikes through scenic areas in Hangzhou and Beijing; his acquaintance with scholars such as John Calvin Ferguson and Alan Priest; attending performances by Ruth St. Denis and Mei Lanfang, and his work at Yenching University.
The Memoirs of Ma
Biographical / Historical:
East Asian art historian, curator and lecturer, Benjamin Franklin March Jr., was born in Chicago on July 4, 1899 to Benjamin and Isabel March. He studied, lectured, and wrote in the United States and China and through his works gained respect as one of the foremost authorities on Chinese art during the 1920s and 1930s. March was East Asian art lecturer at the University of Michigan, and curator of Asian art at the Detroit Institute of Art. Although he lived only thirty-five years, Benjamin March was a respected and influential scholar of Asian art.
Benjamin March Papers. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Judith March Davis, 1995
Series 6, Engineering Research Notebooks, 1913-1945, includes four volumes of research notes created by Royce Beers. Notebook one dates from 1913-1920 and is a six-ring, Lefax pocket notebook filled with notes, drawings, and calculations. There is an article on airplane stability written by Orville Wright in 1917. There are also detailed notes on the six-day "hospital diet" fed to Beers' wife at Columbia Hospital following the birth of their child on October 16, 1916. Notebook two dates from 1913-1921 and is also a six-ring, Lefax pocket notebook filled with notes, drawings, and calculations with various reference tables and technical articles printed and sold by the Lefax Corporation of Philadelphia. The third engineering notebook dates from circa 1914-1922 and is, like volumes one and two, a six-ring, Lefax pocket notebook filled with Beers' notes, drawings, and calculations. Included in the notebook are three copies of the 2.5 x 4.25 inch Ringlemann scale for grading the density of smoke. The forth engineering notebook dates from circa 1919-1945 and contains Beer's field notes, drawings, calculations, and copies of correspondence, data tables, and salesmen's bulletins. The notes and correspondence address such topics as how the Nestle's Milk Products Company could burn coffee grounds for fuel (1941), how to dry fish and beet sugar pulp and garbage incineration (1939). There is also a photographic postcard with an image of a working stoker. The notebooks are arranged in chronological order by date.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Royce L. Beers Papers, 1900-1969, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Letters, printed material, slides, and photographs documenting Hoyer's career. The letters (1935-1982) to Hoyer and his daughter, Olga Pegelow, mainly discuss Hoyer's exhibitions and Pegelow's gifts of his work to museums. Printed material consists of exhibition catalogs (1938-1976), reviews, exhibit announcements, articles, press releases, and Hoyer's scrapbook. There are 6 photographs of Hoyer and his work, 18 color slides of his paintings, and one original pencil drawing. The collection also contains Hoyer's resume, 4 pocket notebooks noting addresses, color notations, and sketches. Receipts and financial papers list Hoyer's paintings donated to The Art Institute of Chicago.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter of primitive-style landscapes. Born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He settled in Chicago in 1915, where he lived until his death. Hoyer worked for the Federal Art Project's easel division from 1938 to 1942. His work was exhibited throughout America, including The Museum of Modern Art, N.Y.C., and The Art Institute of Chicago.
Provenance:
The donor, Olga Pegelow, is Hoyer's daughter.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Landscape painters -- Illinois -- Chicago Search this
Topic:
Landscape painting -- 20th century -- United States Search this
Files containing Silverman's students' grades and papers have been restricted, as have grant and fellowships applications sent to Silverman to review and her comments on them. For preservation reasons, the computer disks from The Beast on the Table are also restricted.
Access to the Sydel Silverman papers requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Sydel Silverman papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The papers of Sydel Silverman were processed with the assistance of a Wenner-Gren Foundation Historical Archives Program grant awarded to Sydel Silverman.
34 pocket notebooks containing architectural sketches and notes, sketches of birds, chess notes, lists of names, expenses and other notes; a sketchbook kept in 1901; a printed obituary notice; and two letters.
Biographical / Historical:
Architect; Boston, Mass. Died 1937.
Provenance:
Donated 1975 by Sarah Quinan Shaw Johnson, granddaughter of Shaw.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Mitchell's writings include an article, notes, student papers, and a videocassette of his participation in an Art Students League panel discussion. Twenty six pocket notebooks contain names and addresses, appointments, lists, and notes (some notes are akin to brief diary entries). Writings by others include poems and an article. Of particular interest is Peter Rooney's unpublished Fred Mitchell catalogue raisonne with notes.
Arrangement:
Writings by Mitchell are arranged by record type and filed alphabetically by folder title. Writings by others are alphabetized by author.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original material requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection Rights:
The Fred Mitchell papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Fred Mitchell papers, 1938-2007. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Various manuscripts and essays on art, biographies on artists and architects, Judaism, unpublished and published manuscripts, and a pocket notebook; correspondence from Forbes Watson, Julia Thecla, Todd Kempf, Samuel Putnam, Emil Armin, John Doctoroff, Ivar Rose, Oscar Leonard, John Sloan, and others; biographical and personal information, writings, photographs, printed material and art work, including a pen drawing by Emil Armin and a sketch/guest book from the studio of Charles Biesel, given to Jacobson after Biesel's death as a memento of their friendship.
Biographical / Historical:
Writer, editor, critic; Chicago, Ill. Edited Art of today, Chicago, 1933, and was associated with the 57th St. Art colony. Died 1970.
Provenance:
Donated 1985 by Helen M. Jacobson, widow of Jacobson.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
This collection consists of glass plate negatives and advertising ephemera created by the Baugh & Sons Company, also known as the Baugh Chemical Company, manufacturers of a variety of agricultural fertilizers from 1855-1963.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of glass plate negatives documenting various operations of Baugh & Sons Company. The collection also includes trade literature, advertising ephemera in the form of pocket notebooks, and farmer's almanacs published by Baugh & Sons Company.
Series 1, Glass Plate Negatives, undated is arranged by size, 5x7 or 8x10. The glass plate negatives came to the National Museum of American History (NMAH) in 1966 from the National Park Service (NPS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania office. The glass plates, depicting sailing ships and wharf scenes, were given to the Division of Transportation, NMAH. The plates are not dated but appear to be early twentieth century. The glass plates may be ones used for the company publication, History of the House of Baugh, published circa 1927 or used in one of the many almanacs published by Baugh.
The scenes depicted in the various plates center around the company's wharf. Images of ships, tall masted and freighter, at the company dock are included as well as various staged scenes of laborers offloading animal bones (the basis of many of Baugh's products). There are also views of the factory complex from the Delaware River, showing an overhead rail system and large wharf side fertilizer hoppers with the company logo painted on at least one of them. The William J. McCahan Sugar Refining building may be seen in the background of some of the plates. These plates have been scanned.
Series 2, Advertising Ephemera, 1903-1914, undated is arranged chronologically. This series contains one piece of trade literature, seven pieces of advertising ephemera in the form of pocket memoranda, and three farmer's almanacs published by Baugh & Sons Company in the early twentieth century. The 1908 issue of the almanac contained a small black and white individual photograph of the Boston & Bangor Steam Ship Company building in Hampden, Maine.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into two series.
Series 1, Glass Plate Negatives, undated
Series 2, Advertising Ephemera, 1903-1914, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Reportedly one of the oldest and largest fertilizer manufacturers in the United States during the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries, Baugh & Sons Company was founded in 1855 by John Pugh Baugh (?-1882) and two of his sons, Edwin P. Baugh (?-1888) and Daniel Baugh (1836-1921) in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Some company materials claim a founding date for the "House of Baugh" in 1817, which is probably based on the fact that the family was initially engaged in the tanning industry near Paoli, Pennsylvania. Baugh manufactured a variety of ground bone-based agriculture fertilizers that were tailored for a wide range of crops. They later expanded into the manufacture of animal charcoal, glue, and chemicals. Baugh's corporate offices were located at the Delaware River Chemical Works on South Delaware Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with offices in Baltimore, Maryland and Norfolk, Virginia. Baugh operated manufacturing plants in Baltimore, Maryland at Canton in Baltimore harbor; Oneida, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the Delaware River at the foot of Morris and Moore Streets; Canton, Ohio; Galveston, Texas, and Norfolk, Virginia at Burton's Point.
A visitor to the Delaware River works reportedly wrote this description of the plant, "I have just inspected the Baugh Fertilizer Works on the Delaware River. I saw many large buildings, much machinery and numerous workmen. There was business activity everywhere; but, more than anything else, I saw bones. The whole placed suggested animal bones. There were bones in heaps, in sheds, on carts, on ships. There were bones whole and bones crushed; and bone ground, ready for shipment. I learned that the annual sales of Baugh's brands aggregate nearly 100,000 tons; which would be six thousand freight-car loads. I was told that these bones came from everywhere: from North America and from South America; from the West Indies and even from the East Indies. It was intimated that the present big bone heaps would soon be bigger, owing to incoming cargoes, but the statement made no impression on me." Baugh's Farmer's Almanac for 1903, page 14.
By the early twentieth century Baugh products were widely available from a network of independently owned farm supply stores. Baugh carried trade brands for each of its primary regions in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Norfolk. Baugh also exported products to England, France, Germany, and other countries. In its yearly almanacs they suggested the appropriate brand of Baugh fertilizer for specific crops and in some almanacs printed farmer testimony as well as photographs of crops grown with Baugh fertilizers.
Baugh Chemical Company was purchased by Kerr-McGee Oil Industries, Incorporated in 1963. Kerr-McGee ceased to exist as an independent entity in 2006 when purchased by Houston, Texas-based Anadarko Petroleum Corporation.
Provenance:
Collected for the museum by the Division of Work and Industry, National Museum of American History in 1966.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
The collection is open for research use.
Rights:
Copyright held by the Smithsonian Institution. Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning intellectual property rights. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Indians of North America -- Southern States Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
undated
Scope and Contents:
Approximately 24 pages apparently relate to Oklahoma Seminole dances, especially "Stomp dance," and approximately 26 pages of sketches of petroglyphs, one from Moab, Utah, all others unidentified as to locality. No date.
The Joseph Henry Collection documents Henry's personal, professional, and official life as well as some activities of his family members. Included are records from
his time teaching and doing research at the Albany Academy (1826-1832) and at the College of New Jersey now Princeton University (1832-1846). There are likewise many materials
from his years as the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution (1846-1878). Henry's records and materials from his time with various organizations are also included
in the collection. The three main organizations with materials to document his involvement are the Philosophical Society of Washington (1871-1878), the National Academy of
Science (1863-1878), and the Light-House Board (1852-1878). Some of the collection postdates Henry's life, including condolences to his family, memorial materials, newspaper
clippings, as well as letters of relatives.
Series 4 is the first that contains original Henry materials, letterpress books, which postdate the Smithsonian Institution fire of 1865. Correspondence, both incoming
and outgoing, is in the following two divisions. Many of the letters are science and academic related. Science correspondence is often concerned with the telegraph, electricity,
meteorology, light, and surveying. A portion of the letters are related to repairs of the Castle following the 1865 fire, to preparing to build what would be the Arts and
Industries Building, as well as to Smithsonian activities. The volume of letters drops off considerably for the years 1854-1864, most likely due to the Smithsonian fire of
1865.
There is a good deal of materials related to Henry's scientific papers; both his notes and published materials as well as experimental data and science records. Copies
of his lectures and lecture notes from his years at the Albany Academy and the College of New Jersey are also in the collection, as well as several student notebooks from
his Princeton classes. There are also many addresses and reports and a copy of volume one of Scientific Writings of Joseph Henry (1824-1846). In various places throughout
the collection are copies of Henry's memorials in the forms of eulogies and memoirs. One series contains many invitations and notices in addition to honors and awards received
by Henry. The invitations and notices are ordered alphabetically by sender. The honors and awards are in chronological order; none exist for the years 1853-1864.
Documenting Henry's scientific thoughts and ideas between the years 1835 and 1877 are his pocket notebooks, Series 7. The "Records of Experiments" (1834-1862) is the single
longest sustained account of his experimentation. Henry kept desk diaries during his Smithsonian years, although not all survived; those that are available are listed in the
contents of boxes 14 and 15. There is a three-volume set of notebooks documenting his 1837 trip to Europe; there is not such an extensive set of documentation for the 1870
European voyage. In two locations in the collection are extracts from the Locked Book, similar to a personal diary, for the years 1850-1876.
There are many papers and materials that postdate Henry's life, including copies of memorials from clubs and organizations to which he belonged, and one given during a
session of the House of Representatives. There is a set of two bound scrapbooks titled Henry Memorial. The collection contains letters of condolence to the Henry family
and materials related to the erection of a memorial statue and the naming of the standard unit of induction as the 'henry.'
In the same category as the postdated materials are those having to do with Joseph Henry's daughter Mary and are contained in Series 18 and 19. The "Mary A. Henry Memoir"
division contains copies of letters, notes, and other Henry materials as well as her work at composing a memoir of her father. The last series of the collection is called
"Family Papers" and contains the letters between Joseph and his wife Harriet, other family members and letters between family members after Henry's death.
Historical Note:
Joseph Henry (1797-1878), educator, investigator in physics, and first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, was born in Albany, New York, on December 17, 1797,
to William and Ann Alexander Henry. He obtained a minimal education in Galway, where he lived for a time with his mother's brother, and in Albany. While in Galway Henry discovered
the joy of reading and thus began his love of learning. After his father's death in 1811, Joseph returned to Albany and was apprenticed to John F. Doty, watchmaker and silversmith,
where he worked until his master's business went under. During this time Henry also developed a strong interest in the theater and joined a group of young people who felt
a similar calling. Until his chance encounter with Popular Lectures on Experimental Philosophy, Astronomy, and Chemistry by George Gregory turned him to science, Henry
had planned a career in the theater.
As a result of his newly found interest in science, Henry set out to prepare himself for admittance into the advanced curriculum at the Albany Academy, an academic high
school. He attended the Academy from 1819 until 1822, first passing the examination of the Academy with honors after seven months of preparation and then continuing on to
more advanced studies. He took one year off during this time to teach in a rural school to earn money. This position was the only one for which he ever applied; thereafter
employers would come to him.
For the ten years after Henry completed his education at the Albany Academy he was employed there in a variety of capacities ranging from lab assistant to teacher. During
this time he was also a tutor of Henry James and of the children of General Stephen van Rensselaer. In 1825, Henry headed a leveling party that was engaged by New York State
to assist in the preparation of new road sites from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. In the spring of 1826 he was elected to the professorship of mathematics and natural philosophy
at the Academy. While in this position he began research in a comparatively new field dealing with the relation of electric currents to magnetism. His first notable scientific
accomplishment was his improvement of William Sturgeon's electromagnet, which he achieved by both insulating individual coils and developing multi-layer coils. During this
time he also developed an electromagnet with the capacity to lift 750 pounds.
In 1830 Henry married his cousin, Harriet Alexander, a daughter of his mother's brother. All told they had six children. Four lived through infancy, although the only son,
William Alexander, died in 1862. Their three surviving daughters were Helen, Mary, and Caroline.
In 1831 Henry developed the "little machine," or the electromagnetic engine. During this year he constructed the first electromagnetic telegraph. He was also responsible
for the completion of an electromagnet for Yale University with the capacity to lift 2,300 pounds. The following year Henry published the results from his experiments that
proved magnetism could produce electricity. The article was published in the American Journal of Science and was titled "On the Production of Currents and Sparks of
Electricity and Magnetism." His article also described his discovery of electromagnetic self-induction.
Henry received an appointment to the chair of natural philosophy at the College of New Jersey, (Princeton University) in October of 1832. That same year he constructed
for Princeton a magnet with the capacity to lift 3,500 pounds. At Princeton Henry continued his scientific experiments in electricity and magnetism as well as conducting research
in terrestrial magnetism, meteorology, and other geophysical topics. Henry continued to be interested in these fields the rest of his life. He was elected to the American
Philosophical Society in 1835, and often served as an officer.
In 1837 Henry took his first voyage to Europe. While on his six-month trip he visited England, France, Scotland, and Belgium and had the opportunity to meet a number of
scientists including Michael Faraday. It was this experience that caused Henry to resume his former level of scientific research, which had significantly diminished between
1832 and 1837. Between the years 1838 and 1842 Henry did a good deal of research into the induction of one current by another. He also participated in the investigation of
solar radiation and the heat of sunspots as well as becoming interested in the cohesion of liquids and capillarity. On November 2, 1838, Henry made a presentation before the
Philosophical Society in which he delivered a paper that described his discoveries of inducing currents of the third, fourth, and fifth orders.
On December 3, 1846, Henry's appointment from the Board of Regents to the office of Secretary of the new Smithsonian Institution was announced. He left Princeton for Washington
on December 14, 1846, to assume his position as first Secretary of the Smithsonian. Henry intended to follow the letter of James Smithson's will, which had left the funds
to the United States to establish the Smithsonian Institution for "the increase and diffusion of knowledge." To Henry that meant supporting knowledgeable and skilled persons
doing original research and providing for the dissemination of the findings from those and other experiments through periodical publications. To encourage this Henry established
a system for the exchange of publications between nations. This plan was presented to the Board of Regents on December 8, 1847, with his first report as Secretary and was
titled Programme of Organization of the Smithsonian Institution.
The first major scientific undertaking of the Institution was the Smithsonian Meteorological Project, which directed the systematic collection of data from all over the
United States. It was proposed with Henry's Programme of Organization, built into the budget in 1848, and begun in 1849. Between the years 1853 and 1855 Henry consolidated
his position by dismissing assistant secretary Charles Jewett, the Institution's librarian. Initially the Regents had worked out a division of the Institution's funds between
research and collection. Jewett had become the Institution's advocate for development of a national library. Henry believed as much of the funds as possible should be used
for research, and that the library should be only for support. Henry was able to maintain control.
In 1858 the Institution began accepting the national collections from the United States government. Until this time Henry had resisted the assumption of the collections
because he was concerned about the Institution becoming too much a part of the government and because of the cost of their maintenance. The acceptance of these materials brought
with it the beginning of direct federal funding. Under Henry the Smithsonian gained its reputation as the nation's attic.
The cornerstone for the Smithsonian Castle was laid on May 1, 1847. The building was completed in 1858, although the Henry family began to inhabit the east wing in 1855.
A fire on January 24, 1865, destroyed the Upper Main Hall and primary towers including Henry's offices in the south tower, taking with it many of Henry's papers, both personal
and official.
The telegraph was a major point of contention in Henry's life. Samuel Morse was not the only individual who made discoveries along the lines of the electromagnetic telegraph;
Henry was also a contributor. However, Morse patented the electromagnetic telegraph in 1840. Henry did not oppose Morse by applying for his own patent because he believed
that patents prevented the sharing of scientific information. The telegraph controversy was finally settled in 1857 when an investigative board stated that Morse's claims
against Henry were "positively disproved." In 1849 Henry was elected to the post of president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an organization he
helped to found. Henry received an appointment to the Light-House Board at the time of its establishment in 1852. During the course of his capacities as a Light-House Board
member Henry devoted himself to research and experimentation in the fields of sound, light, fog, fog signals, and illuminating oils. In recognition of his efforts Henry was
appointed the board's chairman in 1871, a position he held to his death.
Henry was also an original member of the National Academy of Sciences, formed in 1863. In 1866 he became its vice-president and in 1868 its president. The Philosophical
Society of Washington was founded in 1871. Henry was involved in its establishment and served as its president. He held both these positions until his death in 1878.
Henry's second trip to Europe was in 1870. While on this four-and-one-half month voyage he visited England, Scotland, Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, France, and Germany.
The main purpose of this expedition was to attend an international conference on the metric standard in Paris and to testify on the administration of science in London.
In 1871 the Institution supervised Professor John Wesley Powell's federal expedition of the Colorado River. The expedition not only surveyed the area but also collected
specimens of various kinds. The Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876 also had a substantial impact on Henry's Institution. The display of specimens at the International
Exposition was the major activity of the Institution in 1876. Items from the Exhibition became permanent parts of the Smithsonian's holdings. These items so expanded the collections
that a new Material Museum Building was planned, which opened in 1879.
In December 1877 Joseph Henry became ill with nephritis, and on May 13, 1878 he
succumbed to his illness. Congress approved the erection of a memorial statue on June 1, 1880.
William W. Story's bronze likeness of Henry was unveiled on April 19, 1883. At the
International Congress of Electricians held in Chicago during the 1893 World's Fair the standard
unit of inductance was named the 'henry' in honor of Joseph Henry.
For more extensive information on Joseph Henry's life, see Joseph Henry--His Life and Work by Thomas Coulson, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1950; Notes
on the Life and Character of Joseph Henry by James C. Welling, Collins Printer, Philadelphia, 1878; A Memorial of Joseph Henry, Government Printing Office, Washington,
1880; Joseph Henry's Lectures on Natural Philosophy: Teaching and Research in Physics, 1832-1847 by Charles I. Weiner, University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, 1965; A
Scientist in American Life: Essays and Lectures of Joseph Henry, edited by Arthur P. Molella, et.al., Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C., 1980; and The
Papers of Joseph Henry, edited by Nathan Reingold, Maaet.al., eleven volumes, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C., and Science History Publications, Sagamore
Beach, MA, 1972-2006. For more detailed bibliographical information consult the articles on Joseph Henry by William F. Magie in the Dictionary of American Biography,
Volume 4, pages 550-553, and by Nathan Reingold in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Volume 6, pages 277-281.
Chronology:
December 17, 1797 -- Born in Albany, New York to William and Ann Alexander Henry
circa 1806 -- By this time residing in Galway, New York with relatives
circa 1811 -- Encounter with Fool of Quality by Henry Brooke
October 1811 -- William Henry dies
circa 1812 -- Returns to Albany
circa 1813 -- Apprenticed to John F. Doty, a watchmaker and silversmith
circa 1813-1816 -- Involved in the Green Street Theater of Albany
circa 1815 -- Encounter with Popular Lectures on Experimental Philosophy, Astronomy, and Chemistry by George Gregory, shifts interest to science
1819-1822 -- Attends the Albany Academy
1825 -- Heads a surveying party in New York State from the Hudson River to Lake Erie
1826 -- Elected to the professorship of mathematics and natural philosophy at the Albany Academy 28 April; inauguration to the professorship position, 11 September
September 1827 -- Starts work in electricity and magnetism
May 3, 1830 -- Married to Harriet Alexander
1831 -- Develops the "little machine," an electromagnetic engine; an electromagnetic telegraph; and an electromagnet with a 2,300 pound capacity
1832 -- "On the Production of Currents and Sparks of Electricity and Magnetism," published in the American Journal of Science
October 1832 -- Receives an appointment to the chair of natural philosophy at the College of New Jersey (Princeton University)
1835 -- Selected for membership in the America Philosophical Society
May 14-August 10, 1837 -- in Europe; Faraday and Henry meet
1838 -- Delivers paper on inducing currents of the third, fourth, and fifth orders before the Philosophical Society
1838-1842 -- Research done into the induction of a current by another current; solar radiation; heat of sunspots; cohesion of liquids and capillarity
December 3, 1846 -- Receives appointment from the Board of Regents to the position of Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
December 14, 1846 -- Leaves Princeton for Washington, D.C.
May 1, 1847 -- Cornerstone of Castle laid
December 8, 1847 -- Presentation of Programme of Organization of the Smithsonian Institution before the Board of Regents
1849 -- Smithsonian Meteorological Project begins
1849 -- Elected president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
1852 -- Receives appointment to Light House Board
1853-1855 -- Dispute with Charles Jewett over the nature of the Institution
1855 -- Castle building completed
1855 -- Henry family begins inhabiting the east wing of the Castle
1858 -- The Institution begins accepting the national collections from the United States Government
1863 -- An original member of the National Academy of Sciences
1866-1868 -- Vice-president of the National Academy of Sciences
1868-1878 -- President of the National Academy of Sciences
June 1-October, 1870 -- Voyage to Europe
1871 -- Becomes the first president of the Philosophical Society of Washington
1871 -- Appointed Light-House Board's chairman
1876 -- Institution displays specimens at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition
December 1877 -- Henry becomes ill with Nephritis
May 13, 1878 -- Joseph Henry dies
1880 -- Congress approves the erection of a memorial statue of Joseph Henry
April 19, 1883 -- Memorial statue by William W. Story unveiled
1893 -- Standard unit of inductance named the 'henry' in honor of Joseph Henry
