Son of a Wealthy Aristocat: James Smithson

A British scientist born in France, dead in Italy, and never once a visitor to America quietly set the stage for the world’s largest museum complex. James Smithson’s curious will, his wayward heir, and a windfall that shocked Washington launched a decade of political wrangling that asked a timeless question: how should a nation invest in knowledge? We trace the twists—from Andrew Jackson’s doubts to John Quincy Adams’ starry-eyed advocacy—that forged a uniquely American compromise: a place that could be a museum, a research engine, a library, an observatory, and a publishing house, all under one roof.

We walk through the Castle’s earliest days, when Secretary Joseph Henry prioritized science and publication even as the public fell in love with galleries stuffed with fossils, artifacts, and art. Enter Spencer Baird, the tireless collector who turned letters into lifelines and built a national repository, fueled by expeditions at sea and across the West. Fire threatened to erase the story in 1865, but the Smithsonian rebuilt stronger—and grew into the nation’s attic and treasure chest.

Then comes the chapter few expect: Alexander Graham Bell, armed with paperwork and persistence, descending on a crumbling Genoa cemetery to bring Smithson’s remains to the institution his fortune made possible. Inside the Castle today, a marble sarcophagus completes the circle. Along the way we spotlight icons that give the Smithsonian its mythic pull—Dorothy’s ruby slippers, the Hope Diamond, the Wright Flyer, Lincoln’s top hat, and the Apollo 11 command module—proof that curiosity can hold moon dust and Muppets in the same breath.

If you love origin stories, museum lore, and the improbable choices that shape national identity, this one’s for you. Listen, subscribe, and leave a review to help more curious minds find the show—then tell us your favorite Smithsonian artifact and why it matters to you.

James Smithson Biography (Smithsonian Archives):
https://siarchives.si.edu/history/james-smithson-biography

The Mysterious Mr. Smithson (Smithsonian Magazine):
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-mysterious-mr-smithson-180940400/

Encyclopedia Britannica – James Smithson:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Smithson

The Last Will and Testament of James Smithson (Smithsonian Archives):
https://siarchives.si.edu/history/last-will-and-testament-james-smithson

How the U.S. Acquired the Smithson Bequest (Founders Online / National Archives):
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/99-01-02-3240

Founding Documents and First Smithsonian Building:
https://siarchives.si.edu/history/first-smithsonian-building

How the Smithsonian Came to Be (Smithsonian Magazine):
http

Transcript

New Year Banter And Seasonal Beer

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Oh hey there. Oh hey there. I'm Kate.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

I'm Bradley.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

And this is History Buffoons. Welcome.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Yeah. How are you today?

SPEAKER_00 0:25

I'm doing well. How are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:26

I'm doing well. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Awesome sauce.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Happy New Year.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Yeah, happy New Year.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

This will be out um about a week and a week and a half after New Year's, but we are recording on New Year's Day.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Yes, we are.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

So happy New Year.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Or did you stay up till midnight?

unknown 0:45

No.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Same.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

I was tired. I had to work yesterday. Uh so and my kids have been sick. So um I had only two stops. Sarah had to go into work at eight o'clock. And I was home by 7:22.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Just in time.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Just in time for her to watch the kids. So I got up at 2 40. There was no way I was staying up till midnight. Not yesterday. I wasn't able to get a nap in. So nope. Nope. I woke up and it was a new year.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

So I slept in till 6. I didn't get a nap in, and I did not stay up.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

No, not so much. But that's okay. Yes. So anyways.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

What beers do we have today?

SPEAKER_01 1:33

We have a special medello for the season. I saw that Sarah and I and the kids were at um Walmart a month or two ago. Doesn't matter. Um, and I'm like, what is the red modello? I've been out of the beer business for over two years, and that's okay. So I'm not privy to new things. But I saw a red modello and I'm like, what the what? So this is wow, it glares on there. Noche especial. And I believe it's an amber lager, if I remember reading the box right. Or I looked it up. So I don't know. I'm sure you held yours up, but yeah. So since you're a big fan of Medello, it's got a nice nutty aroma. Not really. Um I don't know. Just thought it'd be cool to try a different Modello because you don't see a lot of variations of Medello besides their like their chilata line, which has all the different um fruits and whatnot, lime and all that, and just tomato juice or whatever, or tomato juice. So yeah, I was curious to try this because I I like Modello. You're a bigger fan of Modello than I am. But um, yeah, so cheers to this. That's not bad. What do you think?

SPEAKER_00 2:55

It's a lot lighter than I thought it was gonna be. Yeah, it's definitely not a heavy amber at all.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

It's got a nice flavor to it though.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

I will definitely drink those.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

It's almost got like a like a creamy finish to it.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

Finish, yeah. Yeah, that's kind of really, really light in the beginning in the middle, and then creamy at the end.

Who Was James Smithson

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Yeah, but not like weird creamy. It's just it's really good. I'm pleasantly surprised at this. That's awesome. Good. All right. What do you got for us today?

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Oh, we're gonna talk about James Smithson.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Smithson?

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Yes, he dies in Italy.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

Oh, another uplifting story.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

Kind of is, actually.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

All right, let's get there.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

I know. We're gonna start with the death, but it's fine.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

That's a weird way to start.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

He leaves his fortune to a country he has never visited.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Decades later, his body is dug up, okay, moved into a castle, oh, full of moon rock slippers, and Muppets. Welcome to the bizarre origin of the Smithsonian. Smithson.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Oh. Really? Yes. That's fucking weird. Okay. I had no idea it started with a dead guy.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

So I'm gonna briefly go into who James Smithson is, why he left his money to the US, having never stepped foot.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

So he was from Italy? He's British. Oh, he's British, but died in Italy. Died in Italy. And he left his money to the United States. That is very strange.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Okay. Okay. So James Smithson was a scientist.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

He was born in 1765.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

In France.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

Oh but he was British. This is getting really weird. I need some strings to connect the dots here.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

Um, he was the illegitimate son of a wealthy aristocrat. Krat. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

I'm like, we're watching the Disney movie.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Everybody wants to be the cat.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

I still love when I showed you that that clip of Dragula playing to the cats and playing the P.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

Yes, that was great.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

So great. Aristotle.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

The he was the illegitimate. So he was born to the Duke of Northumberland. Um, he only adopted his father's surname Smithson later in life after his mother's death. His mother was Elizabeth Hungerford Macy.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

Hungerford Macy.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Yeah, it doesn't really matter.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

So fuck you.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

He was educated at Oxford. Okay. So he proved himself to be a very brilliant chemist, an min mineralogist, mineralogist. I think that's mineralogist. That sounds I'm gonna say that. It's the mineralogist. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

I just still wanna, I think I want to name the episode illegitimate aristocrat.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Um, so Smithson was elected as the youngest member of Britain's prestigious Royal Society. Okay, and he had um published 27 scientific papers in his lifetime.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

That's pretty good for back then. I know. I can't even do a paragraph, let alone 27 papers.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

I know you can't.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

Oh, thanks.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

So his research ranged.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

I like, I like I knew that was coming, but you tried to delay that laugh, and I knew it was it was on its way.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Because I can't keep a straight face.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

I will leave that one alone.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

So his res research ranged from analyzing the chemical makeup for a lady's teardrops to improving coffee brewing methods.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

I mean, they go hand in hand.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

He even identified a zinc ore that was late later named Smithsonite in his honor.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Yeah. So despite moving in elite scientific circles, yeah, he had his quirks. I'm sure he did. He was rumored to be a deep-seated gambler.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 7:23

And even a suspected spy during the Napoleonic Wars. Really? I did not do any further research here. I only found that in one blurb. One blurb, and it was a book, and I just I didn't want to download the whole thing. Oh, that's fine. Um, but friends worried that his gambling might end up ruining him, but in fact, he had several savvy in in um investments.

The Will, The Nephew, And The Fortune

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Okay, and he grew a small inheritance from his papa?

SPEAKER_00 7:54

He had money from his papa, but his own investments as well. Oh, okay. So he inherited his wealth. Um, he also invested heavily and wisely, um, particularly in government bonds.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

Um, he had no family and he was actually really frugal.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Oh, so he just he would just gamble. He would gamble, but he apparently probably won some stuff too. Yeah. But he also had smart investments. Yeah. And then besides gambling, wouldn't really spend yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

So he ended up being fairly wealthy.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Well, I mean, if he basically had a fortune to donate to create the Smithsonian, I mean. Have you ever been to the Smithsonian?

SPEAKER_00 8:36

I think so.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

Yeah, I was there once. I don't remember how old I was on that one. It was because where is that located again? It's in DC. Yeah, so that was probably when I was around 14. So it's been a long time. Yeah. So, anyways.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

So he traveled widely across Europe in pursuit of scientific knowledge. He would climb active volcanoes. Jesus. He would um climb through caves, collecting minerals. One innkeeper even charged him extra for leaving his room littered with stones and dirt.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

He didn't want to take his wares with him.

SPEAKER_00 9:12

I mean, Jesus. So he was passionate, passionate about science. He believed that way, yeah. Exactly. He believed, quote, every man is a valuable member of society who procures knowledge for men.

SPEAKER_02 9:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

He never married, he had no children, and it seems that his true heir would be science.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

Good on him.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

I mean, really, it's kind of great because it helps us learn shit.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

Yes. So James Smithson died in Genoa, Italy on June 27th, 1829, at the age of 64.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

Cause was most likely malaria or other some some other kind of infectious fever. Bummer. Smithson's will was written uh three years earlier. Okay. And it directed that his entire estate go to his nephew, Henry James Hungerford, unless his nephew died without heirs. Oh. In that case, all the money was to go to the United States of America in Washington under the name of the Smithsonian Institute.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

That's wild.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

He labeled it as an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

So why I don't know if you came across this then. Did you come across why he picked the United States to give it to?

SPEAKER_00 10:44

Um I don't think I had.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Why do you think he would have done that?

SPEAKER_00 10:50

I I think that it might have had something to do with him being like an illegitimate son of a Duke and probably getting shunned.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

I could see that. But it's funny because he's a British guy, born in France, dies in Italy. Italy.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

Never been to America.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Never been to the Americas. It's just it's it's funny how he's like, Yeah. That's where it's gonna go. Send this to DC.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

It's like, wait, what?

SPEAKER_00 11:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

I just it's just, I mean, it's great because now we have the Smithsonian Institute.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

And I'm wondering if it has something to do with like British versus so the you know, America and that whole shebang.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

And it very well could have. Yeah. And they maybe it was a final fuck you for being illegitimate and kind of shunned from the British.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

The leader, whatever you want to call it. I get I could see that being maybe a possibility, but it also it's like I mean, it's not like DC at that. What year was this again?

SPEAKER_00 11:53

Um, it was around 1829.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

Is that when he died?

SPEAKER_00 11:58

That's when he died.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

But when did his nephew die then?

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Um, he died six years later.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Oh, so not that much longer.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

No.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Okay. Excuse me. I heard that one through the microphone.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

His nephew did inherit the money. Okay. Because he, I mean, they aren't gonna know that his nephew's about to die in six years. So yeah, his money was given to the nephew.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

But he didn't have an heir then, apparently, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:25

Yeah, so while he had the money, he lived large in Italy, Paris. Um, he would spend freely on travel and horses and luxurious lifestyle items.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

This is the nephew.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

Yes, he had no job, no ambition, he didn't invest, didn't marry, had no children, and then he died in Pisa in 1835, having burned through a portion of the estate already.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

It's amazing everything you listed, and there were still some left.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Oh, there's a lot left.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

He had a vast fortune then. Yes, that's crazy.

Congress Debates How To Use The Gift

SPEAKER_00 13:01

Yes. So after he died in 1835, yeah, unmarried and childless, childless, this triggered Smithson's strange bequest. Suddenly, the United States had Smithson and Smithson had no physical, personal, mental ties, like nothing. Um, and all of a sudden the United States is made the beneficiary of roughly 100,000 pounds. Which was back then, back then, no, I know five hundred and eight thousand dollars. That's quite a lot of money in 1835. 17 million dollars.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

Holy fuck. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

Back then it was a sum equal to approximately 1.5% of the entire US federal budget at the time.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

That's crazy. So how much do you think they would have had of shitty Henry nephew?

SPEAKER_00 13:58

Probably 20 million, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Didn't blow through a bunch of shit. Yeah. And you know, lived like a douchebag. Well, I mean, he lived it up, but yeah, I guess I can't believe it.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Maybe he died happy. We don't know.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

Let's hope so. Oh, here's to you, Henry, for hopefully dying happy, but wow. Yeah. Um, all right.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

So American leaders were like, wait, what?

SPEAKER_01 14:20

Well, it's like obviously it's not like you've made a phone call at this time.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

I have to write a letter, and it's literally just in the will.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

Yeah. Come read this letter.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

Andrew Jackson. Andrew Jackson, come read this letter.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

Yeah, yeah. Andrew, I got the weirdest thing in the mail today. It's like, what? You gotta read this.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

So, president at the time, Andrew Jackson, was unsure if he could even um legally accept the as a yeah, accept it as a gift under the Constitution. Sure. So he asked Congress to weigh in. Congress in 1836 was just as confused. Some were excited at the prospect of a national intellectual endowment, and others were skeptical. Southern Senator John C. Calhoun said that accepting money from a foreigner would be, quote, beneath our dignity. Oh, Jesus. And beyond the power of Congress, Congress.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

But this is this isn't for so is the Smithsonian is that run through the government?

SPEAKER_00 15:27

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

It is. Okay. Sure. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Okay, well, never mind them.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

So he and a few other lawmakers um with strong states rights leanings argued that Congress had no constitutional warrant to inherit a private donation.

SPEAKER_02 15:46

Right.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

Another critic, Senator William Preston, feared that it would set a bad precedent.

SPEAKER_02 15:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:53

He said, quote, every whippersnapper vagabond might think it proper to have his name distinguished in the same way.

SPEAKER_02 16:00

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

So he warned imagining random riffraff donating funds just to get their name on a building. But we're in the era of American pride.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

But still somewhere uneasy about taking money from an Englishman.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Which I get. But at the same time, like, you know, they wanted to keep the Riff Raff from donating just to get their name on a building.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

But did I How man?

SPEAKER_01 16:26

How much how many Riff Raffs have 500? Exactly. The equivalent of five five hundred and eight thousand, right? At the time. How many exactly. I wish I had that now. That would be great. That'd be amazing.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

We don't even need a million dollars. Just give us 500,000.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

If I had five hundred thousand dollars. Wait, that's not the song.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

Don't tell me. Don't tell me. Bare naked ladies?

SPEAKER_01 16:49

No.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Oh, don't tell me. Don't tell me.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

I don't even know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

If I had a million dollars.

SPEAKER_01 16:56

That wasn't bare naked ladies, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:57

It's someone. It's someone. Oh my god. It's not third eye blind.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

It's definitely not third eye blind.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

I'm gonna look it up. Million dollars.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

I mean, I guess it could have been bare naked ladies. I didn't I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

It was fucking bare naked ladies.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

Was it really?

SPEAKER_00 17:16

Oh yeah. If I had a million dollars, yep. Oh shit. Look at me getting some musical thing right.

SPEAKER_01 17:25

Anyway, it was someone. Maybe that's our maybe that's our title. It was someone.

SPEAKER_00 17:31

So despite the grumblings, uh pragmatics, prag You pragmatists. Is that wrong?

SPEAKER_01 17:41

No.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

That's great though.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

Like former president John Quincy Adams saw an enormous opportunity here. Adams chaired um a house committee to determine what to do with Smithson's inheritance, and he became the voice.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

So he urged his colleagues to look past national pride and see the potential for advancing knowledge.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

Well, and I th I feel like Okay. They have this American pride you can't take money from a foreigner, but you're not. This foreigner is giving you money, yeah. To start this important thing in your country. Because he basically said, fuck you. To mine, to Britain. So look at it that way. Which hopefully Signor Quincy.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

I mean, we kind of know that they did.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

Well, I mean, I've been there and I wasn't born 200 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

So Quincy Adams said, quote, if it should continue essentially to the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men, to what higher or nobler object could this generous and splendid donation have been devoted?

SPEAKER_02 18:54

Right.

SPEAKER_00 18:55

Adams to Congress in 1839 persuade this reasoning. Okay. And Congress voted to accept the gift.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

Aww.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

In July of 1836, they officially authorized the donation.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

President Jackson um dis So you said in 1836 they officially did, and then you just said 1839 before that.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

Oh, my apologies.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

So that was just a misspeak?

SPEAKER_00 19:20

I think so. Yeah. Okay. Sorry.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

I just thought, wait, how do we go back in time?

Building The Castle And Early Vision

SPEAKER_00 19:24

Um, so President Jackson um dispatched diplomat Richard Rush to London to secure the funds.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

So was this sitting in a bank like accruing interest at the time? So not initially. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 19:38

But this is where that changes.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

So Rush spent two years untangling legal red tape in England, okay, including fending off a lawsuit from Smithson's late nephew's mother, who tried to claim the money, but ultimately the case was his case was won in court because, dude, you're not part of the court. Of the will, so no, it's not gonna get it.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

Look, read the will, lady. Yeah, you're you're not Henry, he died. You're not an heir of Henry. Fuck off, he's an heir of you, so no.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

So in 1838, the court awarded the full sum to the U.S.

SPEAKER_01 20:17

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

Rush personally oversaw converting the estate to gold sovereigns, okay, which were gold coins worth one pound sterling.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

And he even put up a$500,000 bond of his own. Oh, wow. To guarantee that he wouldn't bolt with the cash.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Well, sure.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

I mean, that's pretty smart.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

No, that's brilliant because otherwise they could be like, this dude just took off with our fucking money. Yeah. He's living in$10, too. I'd pick a nicer place.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

So by late 1838, 104,960 gold coins, his Smithson's legacy and hard currency. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

Okay, side note real quick. At the end of Aristocats, do you remember what happens? The butler who tried to kick off the cats, basically.

SPEAKER_00 21:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Falls into a box and it's sent to Tim Buck, too.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

That's right, it was. That's funny. Sorry. Totally want to watch that movie.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Uh if if you want to watch it with my daughter, she likes that movie. Xavier used to love that movie.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

So they arrived in New York City in 1838 aboard the ship Mediator.

SPEAKER_01 21:39

The Mediator.

SPEAKER_00 21:40

And then promptly forwarded it to Washington.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

The United States had the money in hand. Now came the hard part. What are we gonna do with this?

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Well, he was kind of specific. Build me a building, put my fucking name on it.

SPEAKER_00 21:53

But what's the building gonna be?

SPEAKER_01 21:55

The Smithsonian Institute.

SPEAKER_00 21:57

But what's inside? We don't know yet. So once Smithson's money was secured.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

That's that sausage ring still. I had brunch with my mom. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

Take a swig.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

Great going down, not so much coming up.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

Congress entered nearly a decade of debate over what kind of institution to create.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

A decade?

SPEAKER_00 22:26

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

Holy shit. So we're talking like late 40s now, all of a sudden. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

So the will's vague mandate an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge could be interpreted in many ways. Sure. In hindsight, we know what it is. Back then, they're like, we can do anything with this. So every politician, scholar, specialist, they all had ideas and they are all started lobbying.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Well, yeah, because they probably wanted to benefit from this.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

So here are a couple of the plans that floated around.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

And ultimately failed.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

The first one, a national university.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

Okay.

Collections Explode And A Fire Strikes

SPEAKER_00 23:09

So many assumed the Smithsonian should be a great national university. Senator Asher Robbins envisioned um consolidating smaller colleges into a large one.

SPEAKER_02 23:23

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:24

He said, quote, we have only to tread the path that led the Athenian to its glory, meaning the Athens Academy, which is apparently a thing. Something like that.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:38

I don't know. But he wanted to urge America to establish a grand national university for its youth, but others worried a new university might undercut existing colleges or stray from Smithson's intent. I could see that. The next one is a science research institute. Smithson was a scientist.

SPEAKER_02 23:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:59

So some argued the fund should support original scientific research rather than teaching.

SPEAKER_01 24:05

So sorry to interrupt. Um, did they know, like, did they get like a synopsis of Smithson's life then, like what he was and everything?

SPEAKER_00 24:14

I have they must have had something because they knew he was a scientist. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

So and they had to get some type of like who is this guy? Yeah. Yeah. Give me a give me a sheet on what this dude did.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

They had to have something. They had to have. So okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

Yeah. So um the in influential uh physicist at the time, Alexander Dallas Back, the great a great grandson of Benjamin Franklin. Oh wow, led a faction calling for a research institute. Okay. He said, quote, I am most anxious that this fund should furnish means of scientific research in this country. Sure. Back wrote, back wrote noting that colleges weren't fulfilling that role. Okay. So this camp wanted laboratories, research grants, and published uh journals to be the focus. Okay. Okay. The next one is a national observatory. Oh. Former President John Quinty Adams was a an astronomy buff.

SPEAKER_02 25:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

And he wanted to use Smithson's money for a state-of-the-art um observatory.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

I mean, okay. He's lobbying for his own interests. Weird.

SPEAKER_00 25:25

He said, quote, there is no richer field of science open to the explore exploration of man than astronomical observation.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

And this is funny because this is so we're basically saying 1850. We didn't go to the moon and for another 118 years. 18 or 19 years. 68, 69. I always forget. Um so clearly they weren't doing that. Couldn't even fly back then. So he just wanted to but he knew.

SPEAKER_00 25:54

He knew it was gonna be a thing. He didn't know hoped it was gonna be a thing.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

Exactly. He's like, no greater thing than just staring at space. All right. Anyways.

SPEAKER_00 26:06

Then there was a National Museum of American Everything.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

So isn't that basically what it became?

SPEAKER_00 26:13

We'll see.

SPEAKER_01 26:14

We'll see.

SPEAKER_00 26:14

Some suggested the money build a museum to showcase the young nation's heritage and natural wonders. Okay. In 1840, Congressman uh Joel Poinset and others founded the National Institute for the Promotion of Science with that in mind.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

So they campaigned to use Smithson's funds for a museum filled with American historical relics, inventions, and natural specimens, a place to celebrate American achievement and the continent's resources.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

So kind of a patriotic Hall of Fame Park Cabinet of Curiosities, that kind of thing. Right, right. But the National Institute Crowd Eventure lost some influence.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

So then there was the Educational Institute or Teachers' College.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 27:03

Representative Robert Dale Owen of Indiana proposed a Smithsonian school for training teachers, excuse me, and advancing public education.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

His bill envisioned a normal school, a teacher's college, focusing on science and agriculture to spread practical knowledge to the masses. This was pretty progressive at the time. Free public education wasn't yet widespread. Right. And Owen saw Smithson's gift as a way to boost it nationally.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

Then we have a library or American Library of Congress, noting that the actual Library of Congress at the time was still tiny.

SPEAKER_02 27:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 27:43

Some argued for using the money to create a world-class national library. Senator Rufus Choate pointed out that European scholars enjoyed vast libraries, whereas American scholars had to make do with far less. He said, quote, why should a German or an Englishman sit down to a repest of 500,000 books and an American be put on something less than half allowance? So a mega library, he argued, would diffuse knowledge more widely than a university might.

Iconic Artifacts From Flags To Slippers

SPEAKER_01 28:17

Well now, okay. But I see where he's going with that.

SPEAKER_00 28:31

But the last one is just to stick to the classics. Oh. Francis Wayland, president of Brown University at the time, argued against spending it on science at all.

SPEAKER_02 28:44

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 28:44

He felt science and tech were often misused for war and destruction.

SPEAKER_02 28:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

So instead, Wayland suggested an institution devoted strictly to classical literature and philosophy, educating Americans in the higher higher moral wisdom of the ages.

SPEAKER_01 29:03

Yeah, no.

SPEAKER_00 29:04

The debate dragged on for year after year after year. Congress went back and forth among all these options, and in the end, they had a compromise.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

Massachusetts congressman and science enthusiast Robert Dale Owen, the same guy who wanted the teachers' college, took a lead role in drafting the final legislation.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 29:28

The bill that finally passed and was signed into law by President James K. Polk on August 10th, 1846, combined several ideas. The new Smithsonian Institute would encompass a museum, a library, a lecture hall, a chemical laboratory, an observatory, and a program of scientific research and publications.

SPEAKER_01 29:57

So it's like they took all those ideas. Hey, can I borrow your blender?

SPEAKER_02 30:02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 30:04

And they threw those in, like, see what comes out. Hope I don't trip to breaker. And like, here's what we're doing. Yes. Seriously. That's I mean, it's kind of nice that they compromise and literally put them all together because like they're all beneficial. They're all great to a degree. Yeah. But you don't need I feel like if they focused just on the one, it would have been a loss, and we wouldn't be talking about the Smithsonians still today.

SPEAKER_02 30:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

We wouldn't have been there or whatever. You know, I was there when I was, I think I was 14. I have to burp. I'm so sorry. Do it away from the mic. I will when I have to. Um, but I don't know. It's kind of nice that they compromise.

SPEAKER_00 30:44

So so whatever the institution does must uphold Smithson's broad purpose of increasing and diffusing knowledge. Right. So the implementation and the interpretation of this mission were left to a board of regents and a secretary of the Smithsonian.

SPEAKER_02 31:02

Right.

SPEAKER_00 31:02

So, in other words, Congress set up the playing field and the rules, and then they handed off the ball. Sure. After 10 years of debate, the Smithsonian Institution was born a uniquely American blend of uh research center, museum, and educational platform, thanks to the generous and splendid donation of one eccentric Englishman.

SPEAKER_01 31:24

That's still crazy that just a random Englishman born in France died in Italy.

SPEAKER_00 31:30

Born in France, British man, died in Italy.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

Do you know what that kind of reminds me of? The way I just said it there and everything. Remember the little thing he says in the accountant where he's like, I forget the guy's name now. Fuck. Uh born on a Monday, sick on a Tuesday, you know, buried on what I don't remember. The guy's goddamn, I'm pissed I can't remember off the top of my head. But just saying, like, British man, born in France, died in Italy, donated to the US. It's just it's just weird. It's like what a weird fucking pathway to get. I had no idea this is how we got the Smithsonian. This is this is wild.

Alexander Graham Bell Retrieves Smithson

SPEAKER_00 32:06

So the new Smithsonian needed a home, and it had to be as multi-purpose as the institution's mission. Sure. So Congress had included funds for a building specifying it should contain in one facility an art gallery, a library, lecture hall, rooms for scientific research, and museum exhibition space. Okay. So a prominent architect, James Renwick Jr. was hired to design a suitable structure. Okay. He delivered a grand red sandstone building in a neo-medieval revival style, immediately nicknamed the castle, for its resemblance to a gothic fortress.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

So that's why you said the body was moved to a castle. Gotcha. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 32:54

When the castle's exterior was completed around 1855, it grabbed a lot of attention.

SPEAKER_01 32:59

So that that wasn't for back then, that wasn't terribly long after they decided this is what we're doing. I mean, really, that's pretty impressive, actually.

SPEAKER_00 33:08

The Smithsonian's own reports proudly noted that the majority of strangers who's who visit the city consider it a very beautiful edifice. Sure. Inside, the castle does try to do it all.

SPEAKER_02 33:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 33:20

By the late 1850s, the Great Hall and adjacent adjacent rooms held displays of art, historical artifacts, and natural specimens, while upstairs there was the scientific laboratories and their reading room. All right. Now the secretary of the Smithsonian, he's like the top dog, the secretary is. Okay. Even had his own residence in one of the wings.

SPEAKER_01 33:42

Oh shit, really?

SPEAKER_00 33:43

The first secretary was physicist Um Joseph Henry. He was a renowned scientist, um, known for his work on electromagnetis magnetism. Magnetism. Thank you for that. Long words are hard.

SPEAKER_01 34:03

No, no, no. Take off long. Words are hard.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

Words are hard. Henry was a serious and reserved man. Okay. And he believed the Smithsonian's highest calling was scientific research and publication.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 34:19

So he pushed for the institution to sponsor original research, exchange scientific information internationally, and publish scholarly papers.

SPEAKER_01 34:29

As opposed to what?

SPEAKER_00 34:32

Not. As opposed to the art part and the specimens and the art gallery.

SPEAKER_01 34:42

I kind of like that it's a it's a museum, which art is part of that.

SPEAKER_00 34:47

The secretary is like, I really like the the scientific part, not really the museum part.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

So he liked the upstairs. Yeah, he didn't care for the downstairs.

SPEAKER_00 34:55

Yeah, he thought that the museum part was like the secondary importance.

SPEAKER_01 34:59

Which is fine. Okay, so that's what he was meaning. I get that. But at the same time, I feel like collecting the things, like, because I mean, isn't even Indiana Jones's fucking coat and Fedora in the Smithsonian?

SPEAKER_02 35:12

Maybe.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

I believe. Shit like that, you know? Mm-hmm. Actually, I saw someone funny, like, they're talking about how it wasn't Indiana Jones, but as somebody somebody got something in the Smithsonian from like their show or something. It was very popular. It joked about it being next to Bill Cosby's sweater. Or something like that. I don't remember the joke. It's random. We're talking about the Smithsonian. It's random. It's not random. We're literally that's where I'm talking. Alright. Anyways. So uh cover your drink.

SPEAKER_00 35:44

The American public loved the idea of a national museum, and before long, specimens started arriving at the castle doors.

Final Resting Place And Modern Legacy

SPEAKER_01 35:53

So they just sent them to it. There you go. Take this rock. Hey, we got a skull on our doorstep. Put it upstairs. We'll put it in the museum later. You figured out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:05

So a major boost came from the U.S. exploring expedition of 1838 through 1842, which was the Wilkes expedition, which had circumnavigated the globe and collected thousands of scientific specimens and artifacts. And in 1858, the Smithsonian acquired and put on display many of the items from this expedition. Oh, nice. At the same time, the American West was being explored. Sure was. And the Smithsonian became um the repository for finds from adventures out there. Yeah, fossils and minerals and plants and animal specimens. Well, yeah, because it's new territory.

SPEAKER_01 36:46

New shit.

SPEAKER_00 36:47

Mm-hmm. So Joseph Henry.

SPEAKER_01 36:49

Sorry, new territory. Who dis I couldn't help myself on that one?

SPEAKER_00 36:56

So uh Joseph Henry um may have fretted a little bit about balancing priorities, but even he couldn't resist the scientific value of these collections coming in.

SPEAKER_01 37:08

Well, and that's the thing. Like, I understand maybe art on the wall, not so much, but like you're getting fossils and shit.

SPEAKER_00 37:14

He's even got mummies arriving at his doorstep.

SPEAKER_01 37:17

So from from the West, from Egypt. I know. Which mummy is this? Uh Wild Bill Hiccock? I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 37:28

So a key figure in the Smithsonian's early growth was Spencer Fullerton Baird, a brilliant naturalist who joined as assistant secretary in 1850. Okay. Baird was uh was a prodigious collector and organizer. When he moved to Washington to take the job, he literally brought two railroad boxed cars full of his own zoological specimen collections with him.

SPEAKER_01 37:57

Holy fuck. Wow. I have a collection of action figures. I don't have two boxcars full of fucking zoological things.

SPEAKER_00 38:08

I have a collection of Pride and Prejudice novels.

SPEAKER_01 38:11

Yeah, that would take up like that much in the Smithsonian. Um, anyways, that's crazy. He had that much shit.

SPEAKER_00 38:20

He had aspirations to build what he called a national museum.

SPEAKER_01 38:23

Oh, so he just more or less put his dream to aside and said, let's just focus it into this one.

SPEAKER_00 38:31

Yeah. Basically. Yeah. Yeah. He's like he wanted to be director one day. Sure. So Bear got straight to work expanding the Smithsonian collection. He wrote 3,600 letters a year to far-flung explorers and collectors, training them how to gather and ship specimens back to DC.

Wrap Up And Listener Invitation

SPEAKER_01 38:51

3,600 letters a year. That is almost 10 a day. And that would be one thing if you just hit the copy button. But they didn't have that back then. Even um, I would assume typewriters were around then, right? Maybe. Long form. Fucking get my ink and my quill and ink.

SPEAKER_00 39:14

Where's where's Johannes Gutenberg?

SPEAKER_01 39:17

Well, I mean, that was around printing press. I guess he could have done that.

SPEAKER_00 39:21

So under his watch, specimens, um excuse me, shipments of birds, rocks, fossils, you name it, poured into the castle. So by the time Baird succeeded Joseph Henry as secretary in 1878, the Smithsonian's National Museum collection had exploded to over 2.5 million specimens and artifacts.

SPEAKER_01 39:43

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 39:44

Requiring more buildings to house them.

SPEAKER_01 39:46

Yep. I don't recall, because again, I don't remember exactly when I was there. Is there multiple facilities? They're not all are they all connected or they're they're just different they might be connected underground. Okay. Fair enough.

SPEAKER_00 40:00

Yeah. So and I got that from the movie Um Night of the Museum.

SPEAKER_01 40:05

Is that why you watched it the other day? No, that was just pure coincidence. Yeah. Because you told me you watched it.

SPEAKER_00 40:11

I did. No, that maybe it was subconscious.

SPEAKER_01 40:15

Maybe, yeah. But yeah, I did watch that movie.

SPEAKER_00 40:17

That's funny. Yeah, I didn't even I couldn't I didn't even remember that I did. That's awesome. Okay. So Baird's tenure coincided with America's um centennial, 1876. Oh yeah. Mm-hmm. Which spurred nationalism and funding for museums. Oh. So eventually Congress formally recognized the Smithsonian as the umbrella for the U.S. National Museum in 1876 through 1879, cementing the dual role of the institution, not just as a research center, right? But the nation's attic and treasure chest. Attic and treasure chest.

SPEAKER_01 40:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:50

In 1865, disaster struck. Oh no. A fire ripped through the upper floors.

SPEAKER_01 40:56

Oh, do they know how it started?

SPEAKER_00 40:58

No, I don't think so. At least I didn't I didn't find that in my research. Okay. But uh um Joseph Henry watched helplessly as the institution's library and some exhibits went up in flames. Oh, that's sad. Many of James Smithson's own papers and personal effects which had been shipped over from England were destroyed. Oh no. Um among the losses, Smithson's wardrobe, including the only two pairs of underwear he owned at his death. Will up in smoke.

SPEAKER_01 41:30

He only owned two pairs of underwear.

SPEAKER_00 41:34

Supposedly. But the Smithsonian rebuilt and persevered with improved fireproofing.

SPEAKER_02 41:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 41:42

The castle was repaired and continued to serve as headquarters, museums, uh, research lab, library, sometimes bachelor pad, depending on the secretary, for many more decades.

SPEAKER_01 41:54

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 41:56

Until the Smithsonian's expansion eventually spread its collections into numerous specialized museums along the National Mall.

SPEAKER_01 42:04

Gotcha. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 42:05

So through those early growing pains, the institution Smithson founded evolved into a uniquely American blend of learning and accessible public wonder, just as you might have hoped.

SPEAKER_01 42:16

Right.

SPEAKER_00 42:17

A place to increase and diffusion of knowledge.

SPEAKER_01 42:21

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 42:22

From the beginning, the institution amassed an eclectic horde of artifacts spanning art, history, science, and pop culture. Yep. Today it's the world's largest museum complex with around 155 million items.

SPEAKER_01 42:38

Holy Christ.

SPEAKER_00 42:40

Including some of the most famous objects on the planet. Like the Smithsonian holds everything from ancient Chinese bronzes to the actual star spangled banner, the huge 1814 American flag that inspired the national anthem. Yeah. From a 3.5 billion year-old fossil, one of the oldest fossils ever discovered.

SPEAKER_01 43:04

What's it a fossil of?

SPEAKER_00 43:05

I didn't look into it. Come on. To the Americ to the Apollo 11 command module that carried astronauts back from the moon.

SPEAKER_01 43:13

I knew that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:15

Also included.

SPEAKER_01 43:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:17

From 1939.

SPEAKER_01 43:18

Oh, good year.

SPEAKER_00 43:20

Dorothy's Ruby slippers. Yep. The ruby red slippers worn by Judy Garland and the Wizard of Oz reside in the National Museum of American History. The pair on display is actually mismatched.

SPEAKER_02 43:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:33

One shoe is a half size larger than the other. But we don't care.

SPEAKER_02 43:37

No.

SPEAKER_00 43:38

Um the iconic shoes were so beloved that in 2016 the Smithsonian even ran a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for their conservation, which metics met its goal.

SPEAKER_01 43:50

Oh. I mean, yeah, fans of the movie. Oh yeah. Especially with the popularity of Wicked these days. Yeah. So yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 43:58

Then we have the Hope Diamond.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

Yes, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 44:02

A 45.5 karat deep blue diamond. Yeah. Arguably the most famous and notorious gemstone in the world. Right. Yeah. It was worn by French kings, stolen during the revolution, sold to heiresses and kings, and rumored rumored to carry a curse and bring bad luck to its owners. Didn't look into it. In 15, in 18, nope, 1958. Oh my god. New York jeweler Harry Winston decided to donate the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and he sent it through the US Mail.

SPEAKER_01 44:39

What the fuck?

SPEAKER_00 44:41

He wrapped the$350 million jewel in brown paper, put it in a box, and paid$2.44 in postage and about$140 for insurance and mailed it to Washington, D.C., where it arrived safely.

SPEAKER_01 44:58

I wonder how he got his hands on it. That'd be interesting.

SPEAKER_00 45:02

Yeah. The Hope Diamond is now on permanent display.

SPEAKER_01 45:05

Well, yeah. I mean, what's the value of that? I wonder.

SPEAKER_00 45:11

Well, it was at the time it was$350 million.

SPEAKER_01 45:14

So and that was in the 50s, you said, right?

SPEAKER_00 45:17

58. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:19

So it's gotta be at least 356 million now.

SPEAKER_00 45:23

And then we have the Muppets.

SPEAKER_01 45:25

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 45:26

The Smithsonian um has Kermit the Frog and Friends.

SPEAKER_01 45:31

Like the original.

SPEAKER_00 45:32

Jim Henson's original Kermit puppet, fashioned from an old coat and ping-pong ball eyes. Yep. Was donated to the Smithsonian in 1994. That's cool. And has sat happily on display. But poor Kermit was was solo for a couple years.

SPEAKER_01 45:49

Oh no, until Miss Piggy showed up.

SPEAKER_00 45:51

Until 2013. Yeah. Henson's family donated a whole troupe of Muppets. That's awesome. Including Miss Piggy. Well, duh. To welcome Miss Piggy in true diva style. Oh dear. Smithsonian staff arranged a photo shoot pairing the pig with Dorothy's ruby slippers and the Hope Diamond.

SPEAKER_01 46:15

Oh my word.

SPEAKER_00 46:17

Yes. Behind closed doors at dawn with armed guards escorting the Hope Diamond to Piggy's neck.

SPEAKER_01 46:24

Jesus Christ. Well, yeah, you need armed guards for that. God forbid.

SPEAKER_00 46:28

We have an image of Miss Piggy draped in the 45 karat Hope Diamond next to the famed slippers.

SPEAKER_01 46:36

I'm pretty sure I've seen that picture. Yeah. That's funny.

SPEAKER_00 46:40

The Smithsonian houses countless artifacts in American history. Top hat of Abraham Lincoln, which he wore to the Fords Theater in 1865. Yeah, it didn't turn out too well. The original Star Spangled Banner, as I said. Yep. Thomas Jefferson's desk, which he drafted the Declaration of Independence on. Nice. The Wright brothers 1903 Flyer.

SPEAKER_02 47:02

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 47:03

The first airplane. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 47:04

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 47:04

Um Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 spacesuit. Okay. Which was still dusted with moondust. And um Dorothy's dress from The Wizard of Oz, Indiana Jones' fedora and jacket. Yep. Julia Child's entire kitchen. And Unky Unc Archie Bunker's armchair from all in the family.

SPEAKER_01 47:26

Sounds like you're gonna say Unky. Unky Barker. Unky Barker. Isn't uh Fonzi's coat in it too? Sounds about right. I believe. I think that's right.

SPEAKER_00 47:34

I just gave you some of the highlights.

SPEAKER_01 47:36

That's fine. I I'm pretty sure Fonsey's leather jacket's in there as well. Yeah. I believe.

SPEAKER_00 47:41

So one more dramatic chapter here. Oh no. Their journey of James Smithson's own remains. Yes. Smithson died in 1829 in Genoa, Italy, and was buried there.

SPEAKER_01 47:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:55

Um, in a small British cemetery.

SPEAKER_01 47:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 47:58

For 75 years, he rested there. But in at by the turn of the 20th century, the Genoa Cemetery was in despair and slated for uh relocation. Oh dear. There was actually some um erosion happening.

SPEAKER_01 48:16

Oh shit. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 48:17

So in 1903, the Smithsonian's Board of Regents decided that the founder's bones should be brought to America for a proper honor. Sure. None other than Alexander Graham Bell, the famous inventor of the telephone, who happened to be a Smithsonian regent and an adventurer, apparently.

SPEAKER_01 48:40

All right.

SPEAKER_00 48:41

He took up the task to go get him. He sailed to Genoa with his wife Mabel in 1903.

SPEAKER_01 48:47

Mabel Bell.

SPEAKER_00 48:49

Mabel Bell.

SPEAKER_01 48:50

This just sounds weird.

SPEAKER_00 48:52

Bell and arrived in Genoa doing during a very wet and cold winter.

SPEAKER_01 48:57

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_00 48:58

He found the cemetery perched on a cliffside so eroded that some coffins were literally falling into about to fall into the sea.

SPEAKER_01 49:09

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 49:10

Yes. He's like, I better get with it.

SPEAKER_01 49:13

I uh need a shovel over here. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 49:16

So he said, quote, there seemed to be no end to the red tape necessary to remove the body. Oh boy. They needed permits for exhumation, permits to move the remains out of Italy, permits to buy a new coffin, letters from the British consul, the American consul, the local health office, etc. etc. That's crazy. Yes. He was like, I can make a telephone for, you know, before I have to do all this. He's like, ohoy hoy. So things took a turn um when an old injunction surfaced filed decades earlier by a distant French relative of Smithson, forbidding the removal of Smithson's remains for any reason or any person whatsoever. Like, why? Why?

SPEAKER_01 50:08

Why would they come up with that?

SPEAKER_00 50:10

Why?

SPEAKER_01 50:11

That seems really obscure and like that makes no fucking sense.

SPEAKER_00 50:17

Yes. The local mayor barred Bell from touching the grave. Bell feared that he might have to sail home defeated.

SPEAKER_01 50:27

Um so he he barred Bell from touching the grave. Couldn't be like, dude, come here.

SPEAKER_00 50:32

Yeah, you you touch it. So Bell sprang into action. Um, he marshalled all the documents he could, including Smithson's will and family tree, yeah, to prove the U.S. had legitimate claim as Smithson's heir.

SPEAKER_01 50:48

Well, yeah, I mean, he's not wrong at that point.

SPEAKER_00 50:51

He told Italian off officials that he was there as a personal representative of the president at the time, Theodore Roosevelt. Yeah. Not exactly true, but it actually worked. It's a white lie. So he also had a little bit of cash that helped grease the wheels a little bit. Oh. Bell's friend, um, an American console quietly spread around a thousand lyre to smooth over any lingering objections.

SPEAKER_02 51:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:20

So the injunction from the French relatives was overturned and permission was granted to carry on.

SPEAKER_02 51:25

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 51:26

In early January of 1904, Smithson's coffin was last raised from the earth.

SPEAKER_01 51:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 51:32

The remains inside were remarkably intact.

SPEAKER_01 51:35

Really?

SPEAKER_00 51:36

Bell noted the skeleton was complete and well preserved. The bones did not crumble, though the old wooden coffin itself completely disintegrated. On top of the body or whatever. The remains were carefully transferred into a new metal-lined coffin.

SPEAKER_01 51:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 51:52

And Mrs. Bell laid a wreath of laurel leaves inside as a sign of respect.

SPEAKER_01 51:58

Well, it's put in what?

SPEAKER_00 52:00

Um, like um a laurel leaf. It's just like a type of leaf um wreath. So the American consul sealed the casket and draped it with an American flag, remarking, quote, the flag adopts him already for our country to which he has so belonged in spirit. He is now about to receive there a portion of the outward veneration and homage he so supremely merits. Homage?

SPEAKER_01 52:26

Homage.

SPEAKER_00 52:27

Homage.

SPEAKER_01 52:28

I like homage. It would be homage.

SPEAKER_00 52:33

Homage, yeah. Bell ensured that Smithson's final trip was first class. He escorted the casket to buy ship to the United States, arriving in Washington, D.C. on January 25th, 1904.

SPEAKER_02 52:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 52:45

Thanks to Bell's lobbying and his bluff about the president. Um, he actually um had a hero's welcome arranged. Sure. The U.S. Navy provided a vessel to carry their remains from New York to Washington.

SPEAKER_02 52:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 53:00

And upon arrival, a cavalry unit formed an honor guard procession down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Smithsonian Castle.

SPEAKER_01 53:07

That's funny.

SPEAKER_00 53:08

At the castle, the very institution Smithson's money had built, James Smithson's remains were received with ceremony and placed in a tomb of honor. Today, if you enter the Smithsonian Capsule's Castle's main foyer.

SPEAKER_01 53:23

The castle?

SPEAKER_00 53:24

Yeah, the castle's main foyer.

SPEAKER_01 53:26

Not the capsule, okay.

SPEAKER_00 53:27

You'll see a marble sarcophagus against the wall. Oh. That is Smithson's resting place, complete with memorial inscription. Oh, nice. His remains are literally entombed in the institution he founded.

SPEAKER_01 53:40

That's fucking awesome. I'm glad they did that, honestly. I think that was kind of cool.

SPEAKER_00 53:44

It's a a closure to a weird story. The man who never set foot in America in life is now permanently in residence in America's National Mall.

SPEAKER_01 53:53

Well, exactly. And the thing is, like he, for whatever fucking reason, gifted his fortune to start this thing. I feel like they did the right thing and put all those things in the blender.

SPEAKER_00 54:07

Oh, they did an excellent. I mean, in hindsight, holy cow, they did an excellent job.

SPEAKER_01 54:12

But I think they did the right thing by bringing him home, if you will. Even though yes, he was British, born in France, died in Italy.

SPEAKER_00 54:22

I would think the only other place that he would go would be wherever his nephew is interred.

SPEAKER_01 54:27

Do you you didn't come across that at all? I would assume. But um I don't know. I think that was kind of cool that they did then made a tomb in there and whatever. Yeah. If I saw that when I went, I know I have no idea. Yeah. So I kind of want to go back down there. I know. I want to bring my kids there someday. Oh, they would love that.

SPEAKER_00 54:46

Xavier would love that.

SPEAKER_01 54:48

She would love that place. I want to be a little a couple years older though.

SPEAKER_00 54:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:51

Um, especially because of Espert, but yeah. I definitely want to bring the kiddos to uh Smithsonian someday. Because I would love to go back as well.

SPEAKER_00 55:00

So as an adult, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:01

Yeah. Well, that's like even my so like my brother lives in Maine. He just was in for the holidays for Christmas, and he wants me to come out and visit him. I want to come out and visit him. I haven't been so we would have gone to Maine on that same trip when I was 14. If I'm remembering the right trip, I could be messed up on it. Doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_00 55:20

With your brain, probably not.

SPEAKER_01 55:22

But I'm like, I loved Maine when I was 14. I can only imagine how much I'm gonna love it as a fucking adult because I have much more appreciation for the beauty of the landscapes and all that and whatever. And I loved it 31 years ago, 32 years ago. Fuck I'm old. And whatever. But, anyways, so I can only imagine like what I would like, how much I would like the Smithsonian too. So but yeah, I want to bring the kiddos there, and obviously I'd love to go, so I'm sure I'll have to ask Sarah. I guess I don't recall Smithsonian never came up in the in the courtship, so uh I don't know if she's ever been there. I'll have to ask her. So the courtship. Well, I mean, right?

SPEAKER_00 56:02

Okay, so what did you think of our new modello, the red modello?

SPEAKER_01 56:06

I really liked it.

SPEAKER_00 56:07

I really like it too, and I'm so glad you only had one because now I want another one. Well, I'm gonna have another one too. Yeah, I really like the modello. It's it's a little heavier than a classic modello, but it's not like heavy.

SPEAKER_01 56:18

It's not heavy at all. And I really like that kind of creamy finish to it. Yeah, that the the initial flavor to it. It's it's really fucking good.

SPEAKER_00 56:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:26

I'm I am glad we've we've came across that. Like, let's do this one. All right.

SPEAKER_00 56:32

So by the way, the um the book that you got last Christmas, the history book that your in-laws gave you. Yeah, that's where I got this story.

SPEAKER_01 56:41

Oh, no way. Oh, super cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It came to fruition. Oh, yeah. That's awesome. That is a cool book. I'm glad that you well, I'm glad that you've pretty much had it more than I have because you looked for a lot of people.

SPEAKER_00 56:53

I command I commandeered it. I I look through and be like, that's a good story. I'll highlight that. Or I I dog ear the pages. I don't highlight, I dog ear. I don't dog ear. Do you really? I don't dog ear or highlight. Tell me the truth. I just memorize the page numbers. Do you dog ear the pages? I dog eared the pages. But I didn't highlight in it.

SPEAKER_01 57:14

Well. I need to have a conversation with my co-host about how to handle books. Yeah. So here's a side note. I love books. I know you do. I cannot stand when people dog ear books.

SPEAKER_00 57:30

Okay, give me like 20 bookmarks then.

SPEAKER_01 57:33

How are you gonna f I gotta go? Welp. I suppose. All right, buffoons. That's it for today's episode.

SPEAKER_00 57:40

Buckle up because we've got another historical adventure waiting for you next time. Feeling hungry for more buffoonery? Or maybe you have a burning question or a wild historical theory for us to explore?

SPEAKER_01 57:52

Hit us up on social media. We're History Buffoons Podcast on YouTube, X, Instagram, and Facebook. You can also email us at history buffoonspodcast at gmail.com. We are Bradley and Kate, music by Corey Akers.

SPEAKER_00 58:06

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts and turn those notifications on to stay in the loop.

SPEAKER_01 58:11

Until next time, stay curious and don't forget to rate and review us.

SPEAKER_00 58:14

Remember, the buffoonery never stops.