Smithsonian Institution

The Institution’s benefactor, James Smithson, was born in secret in Paris around 1765 and became an English chemist and mineralogist; he died in Genoa, Italy, on June 27, 1829 and was buried nearby. He never visited the United States, yet left his fortune to it under a clause in his will.⁠[1]

Smithson’s estate of some half a million dollars was left for founding “an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.”⁠[2]

After more than a decade of debate in Congress, the United States Congress passed legislation (9 Stat. 102) founding the Smithsonian Institution on August 10, 1846, and President James K. Polk signed it the same day. The Institution is a federal establishment outside the three branches of government, governed by a self-perpetuating Board of Regents; Joseph Henry served as the first Secretary from 1846 to 1878 and Spencer Fullerton Baird from 1878 to 1887.⁠[3]

The Smithsonian Institution Building, known as the Castle and built to Renwick’s Gothic design, was completed in 1855 and became the Institution’s signature building.⁠[4]

The building now called the Arts and Industries Building opened in 1881 as the country’s first U.S. National Museum and was decorated for President James Garfield’s inaugural ball.⁠[5]

In 1889, President Grover Cleveland signed an act of Congress creating the National Zoological Park for “the advancement of science and the instruction and recreation of the people”; the idea came from William Temple Hornaday, the Smithsonian’s chief taxidermist, and Frederick Law Olmsted designed the Zoo within Rock Creek Park.⁠[6]

Secretary Samuel P. Langley established the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory on March 1, 1890; in 1955 the Smithsonian and Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private research university in Massachusetts, established by the Massachusetts Bay Colony legislature in 1636 and named in 1639 for early benefactor John Harvard. Its principal campuses are in Cambridge and the Allston and Longwood neighborhoods of Boston. It includes Harvard College, graduate and professional schools, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Two governing boards share oversight. Alan M. Garber was president as of October 2026, and the endowment stood at $56.9 billion at the end of fiscal 2025.Open the full entry agreed to conduct astrophysical research together, and the observatory’s scientific headquarters moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts.⁠[7]

In 1904, Smithsonian Regent Alexander Graham Bell brought Smithson’s remains to the United States to rest at the Institution his bequest created.⁠[1]

The new U.S. National Museum building, designed by Hornblower and Marshall, opened to the public on March 17, 1910, though construction was not completed until June 20, 1911; it was renamed the National Museum of Natural History in 1969.⁠[8]

The Smithsonian’s first art museum, made possible by a 1906 gift, opened in 1923 and is now part of the National Museum of Asian Art.⁠[9]

The National Museum of American History opened in January 1964 as the Museum of History and Technology and took its current name in 1980; in 2008 it completed a two-year, $85 million renovation of the building’s center core that included a new Star-Spangled Banner gallery.⁠[10]

In 1966 Joseph Hirshhorn announced that he would give his entire collection, initially more than six thousand pieces, to the Smithsonian, and Congress passed legislation accepting the gift on November 7, 1966; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, designed by Gordon Bunshaft as the first modern building on the National Mall, opened on October 4, 1974.⁠[11]

As the Space Age arrived, the Smithsonian’s air museum added the word “Space” to its name; the National Air and Space Museum’s flagship building on the National Mall opened in 1976, and the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, opened in 2003.⁠[12]

Enabling legislation for the National Museum of the American Indian passed in 1989 and was amended in 1996; the museum also operates the George Gustav Heye Center in New York.⁠[13]

The National Museum of African American History and Culture was established by an Act of Congress in 2003 and opened to the public on September 24, 2016; it has collected more than 40,000 artifacts.⁠[14]

Smithsonian venues recorded 20.9 million total visits in 2017.⁠[15]

Lonnie G. Bunch III became the 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian on June 16, 2019. He had led the National Museum of African American History and Culture since July 2005, when it had one staff member and no collections, funding or site.⁠[16]

On December 27, 2020, Congress enacted legislation creating the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum; the museum has no building yet and expects at least ten years to pass before buildings open.⁠[17]

Congress also created the National Museum of the American Latino in 2020; the museum is yet to be built, opened its Molina Family Latino Gallery at the National Museum of American History in 2022, and needs congressional approval for the Tidal Basin site selected by the Board of Regents.⁠[18]

On July 14, 2021, the Smithsonian announced a $200 million donation from Jeff BezosJeff BezosJeff Bezos is an American entrepreneur and investor who founded Amazon in 1994, led it as chief executive for many years, and became its executive chair in 2021. He also founded the spaceflight company Blue Origin, bought The Washington Post in 2013, and set up philanthropic funds including the Bezos Earth Fund.Open the full entry, with $70 million supporting the renovation of the National Air and Space Museum and $130 million launching the Bezos Learning Center; it was the largest gift to the Smithsonian since James Smithson’s founding gift.⁠[19]

On March 27, 2025, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14253, Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, directing the Vice President to use his seat on the Board of Regents to “remove improper ideology” and to work with Congress so that future appropriations prohibit spending on exhibits or programs that “degrade shared American values.”⁠[20]

In August 2025 the White House announced an internal review, under the executive order, of exhibition texts, websites and curatorial processes at eight museums including the National Museum of American History, the National Museum of Natural History and the National Air and Space Museum. The Smithsonian responded that its work is grounded in scholarly excellence, rigorous research and the “accurate, factual presentation of history,” and that it would collaborate constructively with the White House, Congress and its Board of Regents.⁠[21]

In July 2026 a 162-page White House report accused the Smithsonian of “extreme political activism,” focusing on the National Museum of American History; on September 8 the Smithsonian announced Bunch’s retirement, and he said, “I have fought for as long as I can.” Board of Regents chair Franklin D. Raines said the board would name an acting secretary and begin a national search.⁠[22]

Bunch is to step down at the end of 2026; in another interview he said the president’s criticism was not part of his decision and stressed that the Institution’s independence is essential. He was the first historian and the first African American to hold the post.⁠[23]

The Smithsonian has 21 museums, 14 education and research centers and the National Zoo, with 157.3 million museum objects and specimens.⁠[24]

The Board of Regents consists of the Chief Justice of the United States, the Vice President, three members each of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and nine citizens.⁠[25]

The National Museum of Natural History stewards a collection of 148 million specimens and artifacts.⁠[26]

The Castle is closed for its first major renovation in more than 50 years.⁠[4]

Smithsonian Institution: Official website: https://www.si.edu/ (opens in a new window)⁠[24]

National Air and Space Museum: Official website: https://airandspace.si.edu/ (opens in a new window)⁠[12]

National Museum of Natural History: Official website: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/ (opens in a new window)⁠[26]

National Museum of American History: Official website: https://americanhistory.si.edu/ (opens in a new window)⁠[10]

National Museum of African American History and Culture: Official website: https://nmaahc.si.edu/ (opens in a new window)⁠[14]

National Zoo: Official website: https://nationalzoo.si.edu/ (opens in a new window)⁠[6]