This newsletter was sent to Jim’s email list (3,070) on Friday, Aug. 25, 2017. East Tennessee survived the eclipse. So did the rest of the world. Glad you’re still here. September sale These titles have been marked down for a special sale that will run through at least the second week in September. Here’s a chance for • Read More »
Archives: James Smithson
Smithsonian Institution’s name and unusual founding
August 17, 2017 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: journalism.The Smithsonian Institution did not start out as the “nation’s attic.” It began as the storage house for the relics and collections of a British scientist whose connection with the United States is unclear. James Smithson was born in Paris in 1765, the illegitimate son of an English duke. He obtained British citizenship but traveled • Read More »