“Explanations and Illustrations of the Plan of the Smithsonian Institution.” [Pp. 305–316 in:] The American Journal of Science and Arts. Second Series, No. 18—November, 1848.

Joseph Henry on the Founding Plan of the Smithsonian Institution, 1848

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One of the earliest, if not the first, printed appearances of Joseph Henry’s detailed exposition of the organizational plan for the newly founded Smithsonian Institution, the cornerstone of American scientific infrastructure. Henry’s “Explanations and Illustrations of the plan of the Smithsonian Institution” outlines his vision for balancing scientific research, publication, and national collections under the Institution’s mandate, placing him at the center of debates over the scope of federal support for science in the United States. His article became the blueprint for the Institution’s early activities and firmly established its dual mission of research and public education.

Joseph Henry (1797–1878), one of America’s foremost physicists and the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, was a pioneering researcher in electromagnetism whose work paralleled that of Michael Faraday. His leadership at the Smithsonian shaped the development of American science, from the creation of a meteorological network to support weather forecasting to his role in founding the National Academy of Sciences.

Very scarce in its original printed wrappers, with other important contributions including “Observations on Rammelsberg’s Analysis of the Juvena Meteoric Stone,” an early American paper on meteoritics by Charles Upham Shepard; “Contributions to the Mycology of North America,” foundational in American mycology, by M. A. Curtis; and C. S. Hale’s “Geology of South Alabama,” among the earliest published geological surveys of that state.

Price: $150.00