May 13, 1884

May 13, 1884 The United States Congress passes an act enabling the Chancellor of the Smithsonian Institution to appoint a suitable person as acting Secretary in the event that a vacancy occurs in the office of Secretary. This supplements the act passed on January 24, 1879. The appointment, in writing, is to be kept filed in the office of Secretary. The Chancellor may change the designation as required. This appointment ensures that should a vacancy occur while the Chancellor is unavailable there will be no lapse in the office. On July 2, 1884, William Jones Rhees is appointed the first Acting Secretary by Chancellor Morrison R. Waite.

Rhees (1830-1907) was hired in 1853 as a “general assistant” and private secretary to Joseph Henry, the Smithsonian Institution’s first Secretary, and by 1855 held the position of chief clerk. He left the Institution in 1870 to pursue the stationery business in Springfield (state unspecified) but returned in less than a year. He continued as chief clerk under Spencer F. Baird, the Smithsonian Institution’s second Secretary, and served as acting secretary of the Institution when Baird was absent. After Baird’s death and Samuel P. Langley’s appointment as Secretary, Rhees was asked to take the position of the first keeper of the Archives in 1891, which is when the Smithsonian Institution Archives had its real origins. Rhees served in that post until his death in 1907. He was also a member of the National Museum Building Committee. Rhees is shown in the photo sitting at his desk which holds an open book and a tiered basket. Big ledgers are visible in a slotted bookcase to his left.

Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Archives