Smithsonian Institution
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Smithsonian Institution. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
an establishment at Washington, D. C. It was founded in pursuance of a bequest made by James Smithson, an illegitimate son of the Duke of Northumberland. He was a man of scientific tastes and great usefulness. He was offended by the treatment he had received from his father, and decided to found an institution in the New World, that "my name," said he, "shall live in the memory of men when the titles of the Northumberlands and the Percys are extinct and forgotten." He died at Genoa, Italy, in 1829, leaving the following instructions: "I bequeath the whole of my property to the United States of America to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." Congress accepted the bequest and appointed a board of administration, consisting of the president, the vice-president, the chief justice , the members of the cabinet, three members of the Senate, three of the House, and six citizens, no two from the same state. The bequest amounted to half a million dollars. Congress has supplemented it with liberal donations. The Smithsonian occupies a large building erected on public grounds at Washington. The secretary of the Smithsonian has been charged by Congress with the custody of the National Museum in which are exhibited the specimens of natural history, rocks, minerals, archaeology, Indian relics, etc., coming into possession of the United States. Smithson's own cabinet of minerals is stored here. A very great collection of stone knives, hatchets, and other American antiquities, including specimens from the ancient homes of the mound dwellers, the Aztecs, and the cliff dwellers , has been accumulated. There are in all nearly 6,000,000 articles. The Smithsonian funds have been loaned to the general government. The income has been used largely to defray the cost of publishing scientific works. Perhaps 300 volumes in all have been issued. In 1904 the remains of Smithson were brought to Washington from Genoa. They have been accorded a fitting resting place on the grounds.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a literary, scientific, and philosophical institution, organized at Washington, D. C., by Act of Congress in 1846, pursuant to the will of James Smithson. The management of the institution is in the hands of regents appointed by the United States Government, and a spacious structure, containing a museum, library, cabinets of natural history, and lecture rooms, has been the result of their able administration of the testator's wishes. The library, carefully collected, is unsurpassed in the United States as a resource for scientific reference, while in its museum are collected the rich acquisitions of national exploring expeditions. Some part of its devoted to scientific researches, income is and the production of works too costly for publication by private individuals. Dertments of astronomy, ethnology, mepartments teorology, and terrestrial magnetism, have been established. The United States Weather Bureau has grown out of its department of meteorology, and the United States Fish Commission was established in connection with its work in ichthyology. Under its direction are the United States National Museum; the Bureau of International Exchanges; the Bureau of American Ethnology; the Astro-Physical Observatory; the National Zoological Park, Langley Aërodynamical Laboratory, Research Laboratory, International Catalogue and American History Archives. Among the publications hitherto issued are the "Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge," 4to, distributed gratis to libraries; "Annual Reports"; "Miscellaneous Collections"; "Reports of the National Museum" (1884-1892); "Bulletins of the National Museum"; "Proceedings of the National Museum"; "Annual Reports of the Bureau of Ethnology"; and "Harriman Alaska Series." The periodical courses of lectures held in the institution by eminent scientists and savants form a prominent social feature of the national capital. The institution has had four secretaries: Joseph Henry (1846-1878); Spencer Fullerton Baird (1878-1887); Samuel Pierpont Langley (1887-1906); and Charles D. Walcott (1906- -).