Apr

Today in Smithsonian History: April 19, 1883

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, 1883. The photograph was taken from one of the towers in the Smithsonian Institution Building.

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 at the time of his death. The United States Congress, the Diplomatic Corps, the Executive Departments and the public were invited to attend.

The statue originally faced the Castle. The 1965 Bicentennial Celebration of James Smithson’s birth prompted a dizzying move for the Joseph Henry statue. In May of 1965 Secretary S. Dillon Ripley had the Joseph Henry statue turned around to face Smithsonian museums across the Mall so that he might look upon the legacy of his devotion to the increase and diffusion of knowledge. (Photographer unknown, via Smithsonian Institution Archives)

The statue of Joseph Henry, first Secretary of the Smithsonian (1846-1878) in front of the Smithsonian Institution Building, the "Castle" in 1979. The statue originally faced the Castle, however, in 1965, Secretary S. Dillon Ripley had it turned to face the Mall. (Photo by A. Pierce Bounds, as featured in the Torch supplement February 1984)

The statue of Joseph Henry, first Secretary of the Smithsonian (1846-1878) in front of the Smithsonian Institution Building, the “Castle” in 1979. (Photo by A. Pierce Bounds, as featured in the Torch supplement February 1984)