Aug

Today in Smithsonian History: August 8, 1966

August 8, 1966 A. W. Innamorati, Regional Director of the Public Buildings Service of the General Services Administration, sends a letter to James Bradley, Acting Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, acknowledging the transfer of the U.S. Court of Claims Building, now the Renwick Gallery, to Smithsonian custody. William Wilson Corcoran began construction of his gallery of art in 1859. The building was seized by the government in 1861 and used as a warehouse and office space for Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs during the Civil War. The building was eventually returned to Corcoran, and opened as his art gallery in 1872, but his collection outgrew the space and he built a new gallery nearby. The building was then used as the U.S. Court of Claims Building until 1965, when it was transferred to the Smithsonian for use as the Renwick Gallery, devoted to American crafts and decorative arts.

Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Archives