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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION FOUNDED IN 1846
The following tidbit is courtesy of The Writer's Almanac for August 10, 2014. The Almanac, aired daily on National Public Radio, is narrated by Garrison Keillor.
-Editor
On this day in 1846, Congress passed an act establishing The Smithsonian Institution. When the English mineralogist James Smithson died in 1829, he left his large fortune to the United States, stipulating that it be used to "increase and diffuse knowledge among men." The money was shipped to the United States in 105 bags, each containing a thousand sovereigns — a total of about $500,000. The Smithsonian Institution now comprises 15 different museums, including the National Museum of Natural History, the National Portrait Gallery, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum of modern art, and the National Zoo. For more information on Smithsonian history, see: History of the Smithsonian (newsdesk.si.edu/about/history/)
To read the complete article, see:
he Writer's Almanac for August 10, 2014
(writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2014/08/10)
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