Name/Title
StereographEntry/Object ID
2023.055.3.0351Description
A black and white stereograph. Image is of the Smithsonian Instituion. Above the image "20" is printed, below the image "32239 The Smithsonian Institution, with Towers and Turrets like a norman Castle, Washington, D. C." is printed, to the left of the image "Keystone View Company COPYRIGHTED Manufacturers MADE IN U.S.A. Publishers" is printed, to the right of the image "Meadville, Pa., New York, N. Y., Chicago, Ill., London, England." is printed. On the reverse the following is printed:
32239
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, THE MALL, WASHINGTON, D. C.
Walking S. dircetly across the Mall from the New National Museum, we find outselves standing in front of the original building of the Smithsonian Institution, erected in 1885 in the late Norman of Lombard style of architecture. The structure and the vast American instituion of which ti is still the focus owes its foundation to an Englishman who never saw Americca though his remains have rested since 1906 in a mortuary chapel in this building. James Smithson, who was a wealthy man as well as an accomplished scientist, bequeathed his estate, valued at about half a million dollars, "to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Instituiton, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." By act of Congress the administration of the bequest was placed in the hands of a Board of Regents, which was directed to form: 1. A library. 2. A museum for the collections belong to the governemnt. 3. A gallery of art. Thus was crystalized inot one institution and under one management the nucleus of the immense collections which have since been accumulated. Today the building before us containes only the offices of adminustration and certain galleries holding the National Musuem's Exhibition of Graphic Arts and Engraving, which however, is the largest of its kind in existence. The Old National Museum finished in 1881, just East (left) of the Smitsonian building, contains much that was originally housed in the latter, as well as more recent accessions. One of the latest is Col. Charles A. Lindbergh's trans-Atlantic airplane, the "Spirit of St. Louis." Other integral parts of teh Smithsonian Institution are the Freer Gallery of Art, immediately W. of it, and the New National, or Natural History, Museum.
Copyright Keystone View CompanyCollection
Photograph Collection