Q 01/05

The Smithsonian's vast and eclectic collections have earned it which affectionate nickname?

A) America's scrapbook

B) The nation's attic

C) Uncle Sam's garage

D) The people's vault

Answer · why

B) The nation's attic

The nation's attic: like a real attic, nearly everything in it is packed away out of sight, with only a sliver of the collection on show at any one ti...

Q 02/05

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

A) French

B) American

C) British

D) German

Answer · why

C) British

British: James Smithson was an English chemist, though he was born in secret in Paris, where his mother had gone to hide her pregnancy.

Q 03/05

James Smithson's will funded an establishment in Washington for what stated purpose?

A) The advancement of the useful arts

B) The increase and diffusion of knowledge

C) The collection of natural curiosities

D) The education of the American poor

Answer · why

B) The increase and diffusion of knowledge

The increase and diffusion of knowledge: the mandate was so vague that Congress argued for years over whether it meant a university, a library, an obs...

Q 04/05

James Smithson's fortune passed to the United States only after what happened?

A) His nephew died childless

B) His widow remarried

C) His only son drowned

D) His daughter became a nun

Answer · why

A) His nephew died childless

His nephew died childless: Henry James Hungerford inherited first, and his death in 1835 sent the estate to a country that Smithson had never visited.

Q 05/05

Before reaching the Smithsonian in 1948, the 1903 Wright Flyer spent twenty years on loan to a museum in which city?

A) Paris

B) London

C) Berlin

D) Toronto

Answer · why

B) London

London: it sat in the Science Museum while Orville Wright fought the Smithsonian over its claim that a former secretary's machine had been capable of ...