Spencer F. Baird was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in 1850, with primary responsibility for the direction of the National Museum. The title "Assistant Secretary" was not reserved for the administrator of the museum; and throughout the history of the Institution there have been officials known as Assistant Secretaries who had other duties. During the 1940s the title, Assistant Secretary was permanently attached to other duties, and the responsibility for the museum fell to an official known as Director, United States National Museum.
These records document the tenures of Assistant Secretaries Spencer F. Baird, 1850-1881; and G. Brown Goode, 1881-1896, including the years 1881-1887 when he served as Assistant Director of the Museum without the title of Assistant Secretary.
Box 1 of 3
| Folders | 1-4 | Secretary, outgoing registers, circa 1860-1890 | |
| Folder | 5 | Assistant Secretary, outgoing registers, January -September 1854 |
Box 2 of 3
| Folders | 1-4 | Assistant Secretary, incoming and outgoing registers, October 1854-July 1861 |
Box 3 of 3
| Folders | 1-3 | Assistant Secretary, incoming and outgoing registers, January 1862-June 1872 |
Contact us at osiaref@si.edu
Revised: August 1, 2002