Archives Office, Smithsonian Institution Building

Historic Images of the Smithsonian

For information see: Stamm, Richard E., The Castle, An Illustrated History of the Smithsonian Building, 2nd edition, p. 65.

In 1894 a room on the fourth floor, East Wing of the Smithsonian Institution Building (SIB), the "Castle," was converted for use as the Smithsonian Institution Archives. It was furnished with walnut cabinets for storage of early manuscripts and correspondence as well as drawings, photographs, and plans of the Institution. Over a large worktable in the center of the room, a combination gas-electric chandelier hangs from the pressed tile ceiling. Beneath the two framed pictures to the right of the door can be seen the mouth-piece of an "oral-annunciator," an early type of intercom installed throughout the East Wing in 1884.

A bust of the first Smithsonian Secretary, Joseph Henry, is on the wall to the right. A replica of the James Smithson memorial plaque in Genoa, Italy, can be seen on the floor to the right of the door.

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 562, Box 1, Folder Photographs - Interior - SIB

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu