Aug
19

Today in Smithsonian History: August 19, 1887

Spencer Fullerton Baird (1823-1887), second Secretary (1878-1887) of the Smithsonian with his wife, Mary (left), and daughter, Lucy (right), on the porch of their house in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where Baird established the United States Fish Commission Station in 1875

Spencer Fullerton Baird (1823-1887), second Secretary (1878-1887) of the Smithsonian with his wife, Mary (left), and daughter, Lucy (right), on the porch of their house in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where Baird established the United States Fish Commission Station in 1875. (Photographer unknown)

August 19, 1887 Second Smithsonian Secretary Spencer F. Baird (1823-1887) dies at the age of 64, at the headquarters of the United States Fish Commission at Wood’s Hole, Massachusetts.  An ornithologist, Baird was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian in charge of the United States National Museum in 1850 and succeeded the first Secretary, Joseph Henry, in 1878. Baird devoted his career to the establishment of the United States National Museum at the Smithsonian.

Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Archives

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Posted: 19 August 2019
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