Today’s photo–taken in 1953–depicts the dedication required to keep the Smithsonian Institution going and growing. This national treasure is made up of 19 museums and galleries and the National Zoo, as well as several research facilities. Admission to all Smithsonian museums in Washington is free, so that anyone can visit to learn about the US, and the world beyond it. It was this day in 1846 that President James K. Polk signed the legislation establishing the Smithsonian. Getting there took some doing, as Englishman James Smithson had donated the funds for an educational institution to the US in his will 20 years earlier. After the deaths of Smithson and his last surviving relative, Congress inherited 104,960 gold sovereigns as start-up money for the museum that would later bear Smithson’s name.
Assembling the Smithsonian
Today in History
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Sutherland Falls in Fiordland National Park
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Hiking the High Trestle Trail
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Star Wars Day
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Happy New Year! (Again!)
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A good time in the Badlands
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Group of giant cuttlefish, Whyalla, South Australia
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Mona Vale Rockpool, Sydney, Australia
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Burrowing owls
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Night of the ‘Cold Moon’
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Racers pushing past sunflowers in the 2018 Tour de France
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Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
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Zelenci Nature Reserve, Slovenia
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It’s Penguin Awareness Day
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Arrr, it be Talk Like a Pirate Day
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A bridge too Fawr
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Napping away New Year s Day
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Happy Valentines Day!
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Why does this panda cub look so happy?
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Bardenas Reales Biosphere Reserve and Natural Park, Spain
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’Chess on ice’
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Splendid leaf frog
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Tegallalang terrace farms in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
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International Chameleon Day
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Cinco de Mayo
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Kissing Day
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Talk like a pirate—or walk the plank
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Abraham Lake, Alberta, Canada
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Kawachi Fuji Garden
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League of Nations, 100 years later
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Yungang Grottoes, Shanxi, China