The First Battle Over The Smithsonian (1846) [Archive Favorite]

The Trump administration has ramped up its attacks on museums and The Smithsonian. We're recoding a special reaction episode that will appear in our newsletter - sign up now to get it. In the meantime, here's an episode from the archives on the founding of the institution.

It’s August 15th. This day (actually Aug 10th) in 1846, President Polk signed into law a bill establishing the Smithsonian Institution, after almost a decade of squabbling about how the United States would use the money donated to it by Englishman James Smithson.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss the various ways in which the Smithsonian money could have been spent, why it was used the way it was — and whether the currrent institution honors Smithson’s original vision.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

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