Record Unit 2 - Board of Regents, Executive Committee, Records, 1846-1948

Finding Aids to Official Records of the Smithsonian Institution

Record Unit 2
Board of Regents, Executive Committee,
Records, 1846-1948

By James A. Steed

Introduction

Historical Note

Descriptive Entry

Series Descriptions

Series 1. RECORDS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, 1846-1948.

INTRODUCTION

The Executive Committee of the Board of Regents is the administrative body designated to act for the Regents when the full Board is not in session, and to carry out special assignments made by the Board from time to time. For many years, it was the practice to maintain the records of the Regents and the Executive Committee separately. Since about 1948, the Executive Committee's records have been treated as part of the records of the Board of Regents as a whole.

HISTORICAL NOTE

An Executive Committee of the Board of Regents was provided by the Act of August 10, 1846, creating the Smithsonian Institution. In the early years this body discharged many responsibilities for the Board, which met only twice a year and could scarcely be assembled with any speed, given the state of transportation. Thus, many of the early members were Regents already residing or stationed in Washington. The Permanent Committee, created in 1894 by the Regents, was responsible for detailed management of bequests and gifts to the Institution. In practice the Permanent and Executive Committees frequently merged in their functions. While some of the Executive Committee's more routine duties, such as auditing Smithsonian accounts, have been delegated to professional administrators, the Committee remains a central agenda body for the Regents.

DESCRIPTIVE ENTRY

These records document the meetings of the Committee. From them are taken the printed versions which appear in the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

SERIES 1.
RECORDS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, 1846-1948.

Box 1 of 4

Manuscript bound volume of minutes of the Committee, 1846-1849

Box 2 of 4

Manuscript minutes of the Committee, 1867-1874, 1877-1878, 1880-1888, 1890

Boxes 3-3A of 4

Typescript minutes of the Committee (and Permanent Committee), 1915-1948
Printed separates of minutes, 1846-1905; Special reports of the Executive Committee to the Board of Regents: (1) On the distribution of the income of the Smithsonian fund (1854); (2) on the proposal to establish a Bureau of Graduate Study under the Smithsonian Institution (1900); (3) on the question of defining the powers of the Executive Committee (1903)

Box 4 of 4

Daybook, 1849

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Revised: August 1, 2002