Apr
19

April 19, 1883

April 19, 1883 At a ceremony attended by many notables and approximately 10,000 onlookers, the bronze statue of first Smithsonian Secretary Joseph Henry is unveiled on the Smithsonian grounds. The date for the event is selected to coincide with the annual meeting of the National Academy of Sciences, of which Henry had been president of at the time of his death. The United States Congress, the Diplomatic Corps, the Executive Departments and the public were also invited to attend.

The image shows the dedication ceremony of the Joseph Henry statue with a large number of people gathered around the statue on the Mall with the skyline of Washington, D.C., in the background. The photograph was taken from one of the towers in the Smithsonian Institution Building

Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Archives


Posted: 19 April 2012
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