23 Facts About Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Institution, or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U S government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge".

In many ways, the origin of the Smithsonian Institution can be traced to a group of Washington citizens who, being "impressed with the importance of forming an association for promoting useful knowledge, " met on June 28, 1816, to establish the Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences.

The Smithsonian played a critical role as the U S partner institution in early bilateral scientific exchanges with the Academy of Sciences of Cuba.

That same year, the Smithsonian Institution signed an agreement to take over the Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration.

In 2004, the Smithsonian Institution opened the National Museum of the American Indian in a new building near the United States Capitol.

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In 2011, the Smithsonian Institution undertook its first-ever capital fundraising campaign.

The Smithsonian Institution said that funds raised would go toward completion of the National Museum of African American History and Culture building, and renovations of the National Air and Space Museum, National Museum of American History, and the Renwick Gallery.

Smithsonian Institution has close ties with 168 other museums in 39 states, Panama, and Puerto Rico.

Smithsonian Institution Archives hold 156, 830 cubic feet of archival material.

Smithsonian Institution has many categories of displays that can be visited at the museums.

At the time of its creation, the Smithsonian Institution had other entities dedicated to other minority groups: National Museum of the American Indian, Freer-Sackler Gallery for Asian Arts and Culture, African Art Museum, and the National Museum of African-American Heritage and Culture.

Smithsonian Institution Latino Center's Young Ambassadors Program is a program within the Latino Center that reaches out to Latino high school students with the goal of encouraging them to become leaders in arts, sciences, and the humanities.

Smithsonian was the result of Secretary of the Smithsonian S Dillon Ripley asking the retired editor of Life magazine Edward K Thompson to produce a magazine "about things in which the Smithsonian Institution is interested, might be interested or ought to be interested".

Smithsonian Institution makes a number of awards to acknowledge and support meritorious work.

Smithsonian Institution was established as a trust instrumentality by act of Congress.

Smithsonian Institution exhibits are free of charge, though in 2010 the Deficit Commission recommended admission fees.

Chief executive officer of the Smithsonian Institution is the secretary, who is appointed by the Board of Regents.

The secretary of the Smithsonian Institution has the privilege of the floor at the United States Senate.

On March 10, 2014, the Smithsonian Institution Board selected David Skorton, a physician and president of Cornell University, as the 13th secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

The Smithsonian Institution changed the exhibit, displaying the aircraft only with associated technical data and without discussion of its historic role in the war.

The Smithsonian is a participant in the U S Global Change Research Program.

Smithsonian Institution provides access to its image collections for educational, scholarly, and nonprofit uses.

Smithsonian Institution images fall into different copyright categories; some are protected by copyright, many are subject to license agreements or other contractual conditions, and some fall into the public domain, such as those prepared by Smithsonian Institution employees as part of their official duties.