50 Fun Facts About Smithsonian

How many museums does the Smithsonian Institution operate?

Along with 21 libraries, 14 research and education centres and a zoo, mostly in Washington, D.C.

The Smithsonian is named after its founding donor, a scientist of which nationality?

James Smithson was a chemist and mineralogist who published for the Royal Society and gave his name to the mineral smithsonite.

For what stated purpose did James Smithson's will fund an establishment in the US capital?

Congress spent eight years arguing over how to interpret the vague mandate.

How many times did James Smithson visit the United States?

He died in Genoa in 1829, and his estate only passed to the US after his nephew died childless in 1835.

James Smithson was the illegitimate son of which English nobleman?

He was born secretly in Paris as Jacques-Louis Macie and took his father's original surname only in 1800.

Which mineral, once called calamine, was renamed in James Smithson's honour?

He studied its use in making brass, among subjects ranging as far as coffee making.

In which Italian city did James Smithson die in 1829?

Alexander Graham Bell, then a Smithsonian regent, travelled there in 1903 to exhume the body and bring it to Washington.

How was Smithson's bequest physically delivered to the United States in 1838?

Diplomat Richard Rush brought back 104,960 sovereigns, worth about $500,000 at the time.

The Treasury invested Smithson's money in bonds of which state, which then defaulted?

John Quincy Adams persuaded Congress to restore the lost funds with interest.

Which former president, then a congressman, fought to preserve Smithson's fund for an institution of learning?

He was a Massachusetts representative at the time.

Which president signed the legislation establishing the Smithsonian on August 10, 1846?

It was set up as a trust instrumentality, not formally part of any of the three branches of government.

Who was the Smithsonian's first secretary?

He wanted a centre for scientific research, but the institution also became the depository for government collections.

What is the nickname of the Smithsonian Institution Building, opened in 1855?

James Renwick Jr. designed it in Seneca red sandstone in the Norman Revival style, and Smithson's crypt is inside.

What kind of stone is the Smithsonian's original 1855 building made from?

It was the first Smithsonian museum building and became a National Historic Landmark in 1965.

What was the name of the group of young scientists drawn to the Smithsonian between 1857 and 1866?

They took the name from the giant extinct ground sloth.

Which 1876 event's profits funded the Smithsonian's first expansion, the Arts and Industries Building?

Congress had promised a new building if the exposition made enough money, and it opened in 1881.

Which famous landscape architect designed the National Zoological Park, opened in 1889?

Secretary Samuel Langley and conservationist William Temple Hornaday drew up the plans with him.

Which animals are the best-known residents of the National Zoo?

Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, on loan from China, produced four surviving cubs before returning home in 2023.

How large is the National Zoo's main campus in Rock Creek Park?

Its Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia, covers a further 3,200 acres.

Which Detroit philanthropist's donation created the gallery that opened in 1923 and still bears his name?

It was among the Smithsonian's first major gifts from a private individual.

The 1964 Smithsonian building designed by McKim, Mead & White opened under what name?

It was renamed in 1980 and was designed by McKim, Mead & White.

Which flag sits in a climate-controlled chamber at the National Museum of American History?

The museum also holds Lincoln's stovepipe hat, Judy Garland's ruby slippers and the original Teddy bear.

A lunch counter from which city is a signature civil-rights artefact at the Smithsonian?

Julia Child's kitchen and the John Bull locomotive are among the museum's other famous exhibits.

Which Smithsonian institution is the largest by floor area and opened on July 1, 1976?

It opened at the height of the Bicentennial under director Michael Collins, who had flown to the Moon on Apollo 11.

Which Apollo 11 astronaut was director of the Air and Space Museum when its building opened?

The museum was established in 1946 as the National Air Museum and renamed during the space race.

What was the name of the Apollo 11 command module held on the National Mall?

John Glenn's Friendship 7 capsule and Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis are displayed nearby.

Which television prop is part of the Air and Space collection?

Curators restored the large model from the original series in 2016.

Near which airport is the Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center?

It opened on December 15, 2003, funded by a private donation, in Chantilly, Virginia.

How many carats is the Hope Diamond, the star of the National Museum of Natural History?

Jeweller Harry Winston donated it in 1958 after buying it from the estate of socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean.

Which jeweller donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian in 1958?

He had toured the stone for several years and set it in a necklace before giving it away.

Roughly how many specimens are in the National Museum of Natural History's collections?

They range from plants and fossils to meteorites and human cultural artefacts.

The auditorium beneath the Natural History Museum's rotunda is named after which Smithsonian secretary?

Baird was the institution's second secretary.

Which Smithsonian institution opened in 1974 as the first new building since 1964?

The Renwick Gallery had opened in 1972 but in a reused 1874 art gallery built for William Wilson Corcoran.

The National Postal Museum, opened in 1993, occupies what kind of former building?

The 1904 building stands a few blocks from the National Mall.

Which Smithsonian museum opened on the National Mall in 2016?

The Latino and Women's History museums were established later but were still awaiting buildings on the Mall as of 2025.

Which Smithsonian museum is the only one that charges admission?

The Smithsonian took over the former Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration in 1967.

Roughly how many items are in the Smithsonian's historical holdings?

Less than one percent is on public display at any time; the rest is kept for research.

About what share of the Smithsonian's collections is on public display at any given time?

The Collections Search Center puts 9.9 million digital records online instead.

About how many people visit the Smithsonian each year?

Its annual budget is around $1.25 billion, two-thirds from federal appropriations.

Which official traditionally serves as chancellor, the nominal head of the Smithsonian?

Both the chief justice and the vice president sit ex officio on the seventeen-member Board of Regents.

Who became the fourteenth secretary of the Smithsonian in 2019?

He had been founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Which 1838–42 naval voyage supplied thousands of specimens and a 50,000-plant herbarium to the Smithsonian?

Later western surveys, including the Pacific Railroad Surveys, added Native American artefacts and natural history specimens.

In which country outside the United States does the Smithsonian run a research centre?

Its eight research centres also include sites in Front Royal, Virginia, and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Which of these magazines does the institution publish monthly?

Secretary S. Dillon Ripley started it, and another secretary, Walter Boyne, founded Air & Space.

Which regent personally exhumed James Smithson's remains in 1903 and brought them to the US capital?

He and his wife Mabel travelled to Italy; the body was escorted to the Castle by US Cavalry in January 1904.

Roughly what share of the Smithsonian's $1.25 billion annual budget comes from federal appropriations?

The rest comes from its endowment, private and corporate gifts, membership dues and retail and licensing revenue.

Which architect designed the Smithsonian Institution Building, begun in 1849 and opened in 1855?

He later designed the 1874 art gallery that the Smithsonian reopened in 1972 as the Renwick Gallery.

The National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum opened in 1968 inside which reused 1867 building?

Reusing older buildings became a habit: the Renwick Gallery followed in 1972 and the Postal Museum in 1993.

Which secretary created the 'experimental store-front' Anacostia Community Museum in 1967?

The same year the Smithsonian agreed to take over the Cooper Union Museum in New York.

Most of the Natural History collection is stored at the Museum Support Center in which Maryland town?

The Smithsonian Libraries hold some 2.1 million volumes and the Archives about 162,000 cubic feet of material.