Smithsonian magazine is a monthly magazine created for modern, well-rounded individuals with diverse interests. It chronicles the arts, history, sciences and popular culture of the times. Each subscription includes a complimentary membership to the Smithsonian Institution.

About Smithsonian Institution:

The Smithsonian Institution (pronounced /smɪθˈsəʊniən/) is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazine. Most of its facilities are located in Washington, D.C., but its 19 museums, zoo, and eight research centers include sites in New York City, Virginia, Panama, and elsewhere. It has over 142 million items in its collections.

A monthly magazine published by the Smithsonian Institution is also named Smithsonian.

The Smithsonian Police protects the visitors, staff and property of the museums.

Smithsonian Networks is a new multiplatform network that uses Smithsonian archives and resources to create original HD programming. (wikipedia.org)

Smithsonian's History

In 1826, James Smithson, a British scientist, drew up his last will and testament, naming his nephew as beneficiary. Smithson stipulated that, should the nephew die without heirs (as he would in 1835), the estate should go "to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men."

The motives behind Smithson’s bequest remain mysterious. He never traveled to the United States and seems to have had no correspondence with anyone here. Some have suggested that his bequest was motivated in part by revenge against the rigidities of British society, which had denied Smithson, who was illegitimate, the right to use his father’s name. Others have suggested it reflected his interest in the Enlightenment ideals of democracy and universal education.

Smithson died in 1829, and six years later, President Andrew Jackson announced the bequest to Congress. On July 1, 1836, Congress accepted the legacy bequeathed to the nation and pledged the faith of the United States to the charitable trust. In September 1838, Smithson’s legacy, which amounted to more than 100,000 gold sovereigns, was delivered to the mint at Philadelphia. Recoined in U.S. currency, the gift amounted to more than $500,000.

After eight years of sometimes heated debate, an Act of Congress signed by President James K. Polk on Aug. 10, 1846, established the Smithsonian Institution as a trust to be administered by a Board of Regents and a Secretary of the Smithsonian.

Read Smithsonian Magazine, August 2008 Online

HTML Online Edition.

Features
The Great Wall of China Is Under Siege
A journalist's travels along China's 4,000-mile Great Wall reveal widespread deterioration despite the efforts of a few embattled preservationists
By Brook Larmer
Photographs by Mark Leong

The Great Wall of China snakes along a ridge in front of me, its towers and ramparts creating a panorama that could have been lifted from a Ming dynasty scroll. I should be enjoying the view, but I'm focused instead on the feet of my guide, Sun Zhenyuan. Clambering behind him across the rocks, I can't help but marvel at his footwear. He is wearing cloth slippers with wafer-thin rubber soles, better suited to tai chi than a trek along a mountainous section of the wall. ...

Parties to History
Four Political Conventions that Changed America

1912 Republican Convention
Return of the Rough Rider

1948 Democratic Convention
The South Secedes Again

1964 Republican Convention
Revolution from the Right

1968 Democratic Convention
The Bosses Strike Back

A Passion for Tomatoes
Which is more nutritious, the commercial variety that goes into ketchup or the precious heirloom beloved by gourmets? Why has a Florida genetic engineer developed a tomato that tastes like wintergreen? Undeterred by this summer's salmonella scare, a culinary correspondent still has a passion for tomatoes

Richard Misrach's Ominous Beach Photographs
A new exhibition of oversized photographs by Richard Misrach invites viewers to have fun in the sun. Or does it?

Leopold and Loeb's Criminal Minds
In 1924, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb kidnapped and murdered a 14-year-old boy. An outraged nation cried for vengeance, but the famed attorney Clarence Darrow had a trick up his sleeve

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