The Smithsonian Institution: A Gift That Keeps Giving

In case you missed last week's column, I will repeat what I said about it. The same disclaimer applies to this week's column:

Washington, D.C., has been in the news lately, so let me introduce this week's column by saying that it was not inspired by any of the stories about law enforcement in our nation's capital or the scrutiny of the Smithsonian's signage. America has plenty of political commentators, and I am not one of them.

Rather, I chose to write about the National Mall this week because the Mind Inclined team filmed a Moving Experience there a few months ago, and it premieres this month.

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If you had $20 million to use to improve the world, how would you use it? (Whoa, put down that phone. This question is hypothetical, and scheduling private concerts by U2, the Rolling Stones, Clint Black, Yo-Yo Ma, and Josh Bell in your back yard doesn't count. I checked.)

Back in the early nineteenth century, an Englishman named James Smithson had some money on his hands. Technically, he had only about 100,000 pounds, but, because of inflation, that sum would be worth approximately 16 million pounds, or about $20 million, today. He could have used it to fight poverty, build hospitals, or clean up cities, but he didn't. Instead, he showed interest in "an establishment for the increase & diffusion of knowledge."

Smithson's gift is the reason we have the Smithsonian Institution.

What to Do with $20 Million?

Smithson was not an American. In fact, he never even visited the United States. Born in 1765, he was the son of Hugh Smithson and Elizabeth Hungerford Keate Macie. The latter is particularly significant for our story because she was a descendant of Henry VII, as in the man who had been the king of England a few hundred years earlier. Thanks to her, Smithson had a sizable inheritance, and his will stipulated that the money left behind upon his death in 1829 would go to the United States if his nephew died with no children.

After this nephew's death in 1835, the money passed to the United States, but it was not immediately clear how it would be used. After all, there are a variety of ways that a country can increase and diffuse knowledge. A short history from the Smithsonian Institution Archives explains:

Initially most Americans assumed that Smithson intended to found a university, so the debates centered on what type of school. Gradually other ideas were introduced—an observatory, a scientific research institute, a national library, a publishing house, or a museum. The Smithsonian’s enabling act was a compromise among these ideas, leaving out only the university.

The museum component — the part for which the Smithsonian is largely known today — began with the construction of a building that has come to be known as the "Castle," completed in 1855. Over the next 170 years, many more buildings were added, and the Smithsonian's collection grew to include some of the most notable objects in the history of the country and even the world: the Wright brothers' Flyer, the Hope Diamond, Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, the light bulb that Thomas Edison used in the first public demonstration of electric lighting, and more.

The World's Greatest Collection

Today, the Smithsonian Institution comprises more than 20 museums, as well as research centers, and its collection contains more than 150 million items, including not only historical treasures and gems, but also clothing, furniture, musical instruments, sports equipment, stamps, paintings, sculptures, and plant and animal specimens. (The collection of the National Museum of Natural History contains more than 140 million of these items, or about 90 percent of the total.) The Smithsonian Institution also includes the National Zoo, home to more than 2000 animals, including orangutans, elephants, tigers, sea lions, and, most famously, pandas.

This unfathomably vast and valuable collection — the largest in the world — is a magnet for those of us who love to learn. The Smithsonian's counts show some 17 million visits in 2024. Before we share a breakdown of the counts from some of these museums, try guessing which museum had the most visits. (By the way, the Smithsonian counts visits, not visitors. The Mark Canadas of the world make it virtually impossible to count individual visitors, since we go back again and again — and again and again and again.)

National Air and Space Museum: 1.9 million visits

National Museum of American History: 2.1 million

National Museum of Natural History: 3.9 million

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery: 229,312

Freer Gallery of Art: 332,177

Did you guess correctly? I would have thought that the National Air and Space Museum or the National Museum of American History would top the list, but, as you can see, the Museum of Natural History has nearly as many visits as those two combined. I love history, but it's nice to see — in this age of artificial intelligence and virtual reality — the natural world getting some love.

I have to take this opportunity to put in a good word for a couple of the lesser-known museums. I have been to all of the Smithsonian museums listed above (and several others), and my favorites are the Freer and Sackler galleries, home to paintings, sculptures, and ceramics from Asia (along with works by the American painter James McNeill Whistler, who was inspired by Asian art). I visit one or both of these galleries nearly every time I go to DC. Indeed, I'm probably artificially inflating those attendance figures. If I lived closer to DC, these galleries might give the Museum of Natural History a run for its money. One of these days, perhaps after my next visit, I will have to write a special column about these lovely galleries and their fascinating and inspiring art.

What's in a Museum?

This personal reflection brings us back to the original question. If you had a vast amount of money to improve the world, how would you use it?

Like many of you, I have my own pet causes, including the elimination of poverty and war. (Humans have eradicated smallpox. Why not poverty and war?) I don't have a vast amount of money, as Smithson did, but, if I did, I would like to further these causes, but how?

The genius of Smithson's gift is that knowledge can help us address any cause. The more we know, the more we can do. The study of nature helps us to understand the workings of the natural world, on which our existence depends. An understanding of technology helps us to continue to make progress, devising more and more advanced inventions. The study of history — not just some of the famous objects on display, but artifacts, documents, books, and more behind the scenes — helps us to identify patterns, movements, phenomena, and solutions that worked in the past.

As one American put it back in the nineteenth century . . .

To furnish the means of acquiring knowledge is therefore the greatest benefit that can be conferred upon mankind. . . . If, then, the Smithsonian Institution . . . should contribute essentially to the increase and diffusion of knowledge . . ., to what higher or nobler object could this generous and splendid donation have been devoted?

Well said, John Quincy Adams.

Besides, the wonders of nature, technology, history, and art are moving, inspiring, uplifting, and affirming. Such things empower us to imagine, create, love, and live richer lives.

This last part is worth remembering. The artifacts, documents, and specimens in the Smithsonian's collection, along with its publications and webpages and more, all serve researchers like me, allowing us to increase and diffuse knowledge, but the museum component of the Smithsonian is powerful in its own way. Making countless objects and animals — from the smallest of insects to the Apollo 11 command module — visible to the masses is a way to make knowledge and wonder available to millions of everyday people around the world.

Now, that's a priceless gift.