Smithsonian Institution SI

The British scientist James Smithson, who never visited the United States, died in 1829 and left his fortune to found an institution in Washington for the increase and diffusion of knowledge. After years of debate over whether to accept it, Congress passed the act signed by President James Polk on August 10, 1846, establishing the Smithsonian Institution. It is neither a regular executive agency nor a private charity but a trust instrumentality of the United States, governed by a Board of Regents that includes the Chief Justice, who traditionally serves as Chancellor, the Vice President, six members of Congress, and nine private citizens.

Today the Smithsonian runs 21 museums, most of them free and on or near the National Mall, including the National Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of Natural History, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, along with the National Zoo and research centers in fields from astrophysics to tropical biology. Its collections hold well over 150 million objects and specimens. A Secretary chosen by the Regents runs it, and about two-thirds of its budget comes from federal appropriations, with the rest from its trust endowment, donations, and business revenue.

Because Congress funds most of its operations but its Regents control its content, disputes over exhibits have periodically drawn in elected officials, as with the 1995 Enola Gay exhibit on the atomic bombing of Japan. A March 27, 2025, executive order directed the Vice President, as a Regent, to work to remove what it called divisive or improper ideology from Smithsonian exhibits, and the White House later began a review of museum content. Supporters said the review would restore a unifying view of American history, while historians and museum leaders said it threatened the Smithsonian's scholarly independence.