Custodians & Museums

Smithsonian Institution

Museums

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "Smithsonian Institution." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://www.divinityatlas.com/custodians-museums/smithsonian-institution.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://www.divinityatlas.com/custodians-museums/smithsonian-institution

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-smithsonian-institution,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {Smithsonian Institution},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://www.divinityatlas.com/custodians-museums/smithsonian-institution},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

The Smithsonian Institution is the United States' national museum, education and research complex, established in 1846 by an Act of Congress under the terms of the bequest of the British scientist James Smithson, who left his estate to found, in Washington, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge. It comprises 21 museums, galleries and research centres together with the National Zoo, governed by a Board of Regents and funded through a mix of federal appropriation and private trust funds. Admission is free at nearly all of its Washington museums. Its relevance to this atlas is as custodian of record for a wide range of religious, ritual and disputed objects across its anthropology, natural history and cultural collections, several of which, including one of the studied crystal skulls, are cited elsewhere in these entries by their present location rather than by an entry of their own.

Facts

Organisation

Institution Foundedthe subject's own account

1846 2

Governing Bodythe subject's own account

A Board of Regents, a public trust instrumentality of the United States government 2

Public Accessthe subject's own account

Open to the Public 2

Collection Sizethe subject's own account

Approximately 157 million objects and specimens across 21 museums, galleries and research collections 2

Public Access Detailthe subject's own account

Free general admission at nearly all Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C.; the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City is a stated exception. 2

Custody and Display

Relevant Holding

One of the studied crystal skulls (National Museum of Natural History, Department of Anthropology), donated anonymously in 1992 and found by scanning electron microscopy and trace-element analysis to be a modern lapidary object rather than a pre-Columbian antiquity 1

Cross-Tradition Connections