Smithsonian Institution. Office of the Secretary

The Secretary of the Smithsonian, appointed by the Board of Regents, is the Institution's chief executive officer. Secretaries have included Joseph Henry, 1846-1878; Spencer F. Baird, 1878-1887; Samuel P. Langley, 1887-1906; Charles D. Walcott, 1907-1927; Charles G. Abbot, 1928-1944; Alexander Wetmore, 1944-1952; Leonard Carmichael, 1953-1964; S. Dillon Ripley, 1964-1984; Robert McCormick Adams, 1984-1994; Ira Michael Heyman, 1994-2000; Lawrence M. Small, 2000-2007; Cristiâan Samper, Acting Secretary, 2007-2008; and G. Wayne Clough, 2008 - .

Bureaus and offices which were created or underwent substantial change during this period and which are represented here include the United States National Museum; the Museum of Natural History; the Museum of History and Technology; the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory; the National Cultural Center, now the John F. Kennedy Center; the Bureau of American Ethnology; the National Portrait Gallery; the National Collection of Fine Arts; the National Zoological Park; the Smithsonian Oceanographic Sorting Center; and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. Subject headings appearing in these records include: the Arctic Research Laboratory; the Armed Forces Museum and the National Armed Forces Museum Advisory Board; the earth satellite program; the Canal Zone Biological Area, now the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; the Smithsonian's centennial; modernization of Smithsonian exhibits; the Link Foundation; the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics; the National Air Museum, now the National Air and Space Museum; the National Gallery of Art; the Research Corporation; the Century 21 Exposition, Seattle, 1962; the Smithsonian Science Information Exchange; and the Smithsonian Scientific Series.

For an administrative history of the Office of the Secretary during the tenure of S. Dillon Ripley, see record unit 99.

These records chiefly document the policy and administration of the Smithsonian under Charles G. Abbot, 1928-1944, though they overlap parts of the administrations of Secretaries Walcott and Wetmore.

Smithsonian bureaus which were founded, enlarged, or significantly changed during these years, and which are represented here, include the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory; the National Gallery of Art, now the National Museum of American Art; the National Gallery of Art, founded by Andrew Mellon; the National Zoological Park; the National Air Museum, now the National Air and Space Museum; and the Canal Zone Biological Area, now the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Abbot's tenure was complicated by the Depression and World War II, which restricted many of the developments which seemed so promising under his predecessor. The principal event of his administration was Andrew Mellon's gift of a national art museum. Abbot created a Division of Radiation and Organisms within the Astrophysical Observatory, always his personal interest. With the use of Works Progress Administration funds he was also able to produce major improvements for the National Zoological Park. The Smithsonian continued its ties with the National Academy of Sciences, the Carnegie Institution, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the National Research Council, the National Geographic Society and similar organizations. During the war, the Smithsonian was instrumental in operating the Ethnogeographic Board and co-operated with the Office of Scientific Research and Development. Its co-operation with such bodies, and new ones like the Atom.

Ic Energy Commission, continued in the postwar years. Miscellaneous topics in the records include: the Johnson-Smithsonian Deep-Sea Expedition to the Puerto Rico Trench, 1933; the Eighth American Scientific Conference, Washington, 1940; the Smithsonian Scientific Series; North American Wildflowers; the Langley-Wright controversy; the River Basin Surveys; the abortive design competition for a museum of modern art, won by Eliel Saarinen; THE WORLD IS YOURS radio broadcasts; Robert H. Goddard's rocket research; awarding of the Langley Medal; private funding of the Smithsonian, especially the Tamblyn and Brown conferences and the 1927 conference on the future of the Smithsonian; and Charles G. Abbot's research in solar radiation and climatic studies.