James Smithson's Institution

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​In the mid-18th century, the illegitimate son of a British noble was born in France. In the mid-19th century, the Smithsonian Institution was founded in the United States. What do these two seemingly unrelated things have to do with each other? Find out in this week’s episode of Footnoting History, as we look at the history of James Smithson–the man behind the creation of the Smithsonian Institution.

Host: Christine

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Further Reading

John Quincy Adams, John Quincy Adams: Diaries II: 1821-1848, David Waldstreicher, ed., The Library of America, (2017).

John Cannon, "Percy [formerly Smithson], Hugh, first duke of Northumberland (bap. 1712, d. 1786), politician," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, (2008). 

Tom D. Crouch, Smithson’s Gamble: The Smithsonian Institution in American Life, 1836–1906, Smithsonian Books, (2025).

Eveline Cruickshanks, “SMITHSON, Sir Hugh, 4th Bt. (1715-86), of Stanwick, Yorks. and Tottenham, Mdx.,” The History of Parliament, (1970). 

Dana G. Dalrymple, “The Smithsonian Bequest, Congress, and Nineteenth-Century Efforts to Increase and Diffuse Agricultural Knowledge in the United States,” The Agricultural History Review, 57:2, (2009): 207–35. 

Heather Ewing, The Lost World of James Smithson: Science, Revolution, and the Birth of the Smithsonian, Bloomsbury, (2007).

Dena Goodman, Paris Amanda Spies-Gans and Cora Gilroy-Ware, “Cultural Exchange During the Peace of Amiens,” The Huntington, (2019). 

James Smithson, “A Chemical Analysis of some Calamines,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, (1803). 

"Smithson's Remains Exhumed." Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas, (January 1, 1904): 5. Readex: America's Historical Newspapers. 

A.G. Tindle, Minerals of Britain and Ireland, Liverpool University Press, (2008).

H. S. Torrens, "Smithson [formerly Macie], James Lewis (1764–1829), mineralogist and benefactor, " Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, (2004). 

Steven Turner, The Science of James Smithson: Discoveries from the Smithsonian Founder, Smithsonian Books, (2020).

From the Smithsonian Institution:

• “James Smithson, Founding Donor” 
• “Last Will and Testament, October 23, 1826”
• “Opinion of Attorney General on National Museum” (1857)
• “Smithsonian Timeline" 
• “Smithsonite: A Mineral Named for James Smithson” 
• “Smithsonite” [1] 
• “Smithsonite” [2] 
  
  

​Images

American consul William Bishop, holding skull of James Smithson, at the British cemetery at San Benigno, outside Genoa, Italy, Smithsonian Institution, (1904).

Coffin with the remains of James Smithson being carried out of the British cemetery at San Benigno, outside Genoa, Italy, Smithsonian Institution, (1904).

James Smithson Memorial Tablet, Smithsonian Institution, (modeled 1896, cast after 1900).
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James Smithson Miniature Portrait, Smithsonian Institution, (1816).
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​​Music: "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin Macleod (www.incompetech.com)

James Smithson Memorial Tablet, Smithsonian Institution, (modeled 1896, cast after 1900). ​

American consul William Bishop, holding skull of James Smithson, at the British cemetery at San Benigno, outside Genoa, Italy, Smithsonian Institution, (1904).

Coffin with the remains of James Smithson being carried out of the British cemetery at San Benigno, outside Genoa, Italy, Smithsonian Institution, (1904).