James Smithson's Gift

150 Years of Smithsonian History

1846	United States Senate Chamber mezzotint, 1846, by Thomas Doney Photo Courtesy National Portrait Gallery	Smithsonian Act of Organization passes in Congress and is signed into law by President James K. Polk on August 10
1848	Photo Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives	Smithsonian publishes its first book, Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge
1849	Photo Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives	Smithsonian initiates International Exchange Service to trade publications between this country and abroad
1855	Smithsonian Building engraving, c. 1855, artist unknown Photo Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Archives	Smithsonian Building completed
1858	Photo Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives	Smithsonian is designated the National Museum of the United States
1879	Photo Courtesy National Anthropological Archives	Congress establishes the Smithsonian's Bureau of Ethnology
1881	Rotunda of Arts and Industries Building photoengraving, artist unknown reproduced from A Handbook to the National Museum at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, 1886 Photo Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives	Arts and Industries Building opens in October
1890	Photo Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives	Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory is established as a separate bureau
1891	Gold Dust and Dunk with head keeper W. H. Blackburne at the National Zoological Park, 1898 Photo Courtesy National Zoological Park	National Zoological Park opens in April in the Valley of Rock Creek
1910	Exhibit of Atlas Lions from Teddy Roosevelt's African Expedition of 1909 Photo Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives	National Museum of Natural History opens in March
1923	Photo Courtesy John Tsantes and Jeffery Crespi, Freer Gallery of Art	Freer Gallery of Art opens in May
1946	Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, c. 1946 Photo Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives	Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute made part of the Smithsonian
1964	National Museum of American History, south facade, 1972 Photo Courtesy SI Office of Printing and Photographic Services	National Museum of American History opens in January
1965	Photo Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives	Smithsonian Environmental Research Center established
1967	Photo Courtesy SI Office of Printing and Photographic Services	First Festival of American Folklife held on the National Mall in July
	Photo Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives	Anacostia Museum opens in September
1968	The Great Hall, American Art and Portrait Gallery, 1968 Photo Courtesy National Portrait Gallery	National Museum of American Art opens in the Old Patent Office Building in May
	Portrait of Abraham Lincoln, by George Peter Alexander Healy Photo Courtesy National Portrait Gallery	National Portrait Gallery opens in October
	Photo Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives	Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum becomes part of the Smithsonian
1970	Photo Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives	Smithsonian Magazine begins publication in April
	Photo Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives	Archives of American Art becomes part of Smithsonian in May
1972	Photo Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives	Renwick Gallery opens in January
	Photo Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives	Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden opens in October
1976	President Gerald Ford and astronaut Michael Collins, director of the National Air and Space Museum, at opening of new building Photo Courtesy National Air and Space Museum	National Air & Space Museum opens in July
1978	Photo Courtesy SI Visitors Information and Associates Reception Center	National Museum of African Art established
1987	Smithsonian Grounds, 1987 Photo Courtesy SI Office of Printing and Photographic Services	Arthur M. Sackler Gallery opens in September
1989	Photo Courtesy SI Office of Printing and Photographic Services	National Museum of the American Indian established
1990	Photo Courtesy SI Office of Printing and Photographic Services	National Postal Museum established

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