Isaac Newton
Pennsylvania farmer and dairyman, Isaac Newton served as the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/289">first United States Commissioner of Agriculture</a>. Under Newton, the agency focused on research and education, disseminating information to farmers throughout the nation. Newton advocated for daily weather reports being telegraphed nationwide, created an <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/372">experimental farm</a> on the National Mall, and contributed to the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/29">National Botanical Garden's </a>specimen collections.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Isaac+Newton">Isaac Newton</a>
National Archives at College Park. <a href="http://research.archives.gov/description/529257">View original image</a>.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1860-1889">1860-1889</a>
William Temple Hornaday
William Temple Hornaday was a hunter, taxidermist, zoo director, and a founder of the American conservation movement. He served as Chief Taxidermist of the United States National Museum from 1882, Curator of the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/233">Department of Living Animals</a>, and the first Superintendent of the National Zoological Park. Hornaday acquired live bison during a trip to Montana, which he <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/260">displayed</a> with other animal exhibits behind the Smithsonian Castle in 1886. The successful expedition produced the most complete scientific series, and an artistic grouping of taxidermied specimens of the American bison displayed for 70 years in the Smithsonian.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=William+Temple+Hornaday">William Temple Hornaday</a>
Smithsonian Institution Archives. <a href="http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_7983">View original image</a>.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1860-1889">1860-1889</a>
Spencer Baird
Spencer Baird served as the first curator of the Smithsonian Institution and became the second Secretary of the Smithsonian. He worked at the Institution from 1850 until his death in 1887. Baird expanded and strengthened the Smithsonian's collections, and helped the young museum grow into a prominent research and educational organization. Baird devoted his career to caring for the museum's scientific collections and objects associated with the country's founding fathers. When Congress appropriated funds to create a <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/56">second museum on the Mall </a>next to the original <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/52">Smithsonian Castle</a>, Baird became its director. In 1878, he was appointed as Secretary of the Smithsonian.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Spencer+Baird">Spencer Baird</a>
Smithsonian Institution Archive. <a href="http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_9587">View original</a>.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1830-1859">1830-1859</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1860-1889">1860-1889</a>
Sidney Dillon Ripley
S. Dillon Ripley was the eighth Secretary of the Smithsonian, serving from 1964-1984. Under his leadership, the Smithsonian Institution expanded and revitalized. Ripley believed museums should be vital sites of learning and engagement, actively involving the public. He also encouraged expanding the Institution's research agenda through a number of initiatives, including the establishment of the Conservation Biology Institute of the National Zoo. The <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/214">first annual Folklife Festival</a>, a showcase of living history and culture held on the National Mall, was organized with his full support.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Sidney+Dillon+Ripley">Sidney Dillon Ripley</a>
Smithsonian Institution Archives. <a href="http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_10684?back=%2Fcollections%2Fsearch%3Fonline%3Dtrue%26facets%3DSEC_8%26page%3D7%26perpage%3D10%26sort%3Drelevancy%26view%3Dlist">View original photograph</a>.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1950-1979">1950-1979</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1980-1999">1980-1999</a>
Thaddeus S.C. Lowe
On June 11, 1861, Thaddeus S.C. Lowe <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/199">flew a gas balloon</a>, the Enterprise, over the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/66">White House</a>. Lowe wanted to demonstrate the potential of using balloons for reconnaissance missions. Lowe placed his gas generators on the Mall near the Smithsonian Institution and in proximity to the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/225">Washington Gas Works</a>, launching the balloon from the present site of the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/269">National Air and Space Museum</a>. Once aloft, he telegraphed President Abraham Lincoln, reporting a view of 50 miles. Awarded the position of Chief Aeronaut for the Army, Lowe's flight contributed to the birth of the Aeronautical Corps of the Union Army.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Thaddeus+S.C.+Lowe">Thaddeus S.C. Lowe</a>
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/brhc/item/brh2003002157/PP/">View original photograph</a>.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1860-1889">1860-1889</a>
James Smithson
British scientist James Smithson provided the funding necessary to create the Smithsonian Institution. Born in France and educated at Oxford University in England, Smithson was a wealthy chemist and mineralogist. He never married or had any children. <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/510">In his will</a>, he wrote that if his nephew, who was his only heir, died without heirs, then his entire estate should go to the United States to develop in Washington "under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge." Smithson's nephew died in 1835, and the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/52">Smithsonian Institution</a> was <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/162">founded in 1846</a>.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=James+Smithson">James Smithson</a>
Smithsonian Institution Archives. <a href="http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_8245?back=%2Fsearch%2Fsia_search_collections%2FHeliotype%2520Printing%2520Co">View original image</a>.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Pre-1800s">Pre-1800s</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1800-1829">1800-1829</a>