§ 41. — Incorporation of institution.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 20USC41]
TITLE 20--EDUCATION
CHAPTER 3--SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, NATIONAL MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERIES
SUBCHAPTER I--CHARTER PROVISIONS
Sec. 41. Incorporation of institution
The President, the Vice President, the Chief Justice, and the heads
of executive departments are constituted an establishment by the name of
the Smithsonian Institution for the increase and diffusion of knowledge
among men, and by that name shall be known and have perpetual succession
with the powers, limitations, and restrictions hereinafter contained,
and no other.
(R.S. Sec. 5579; Feb. 27, 1877, ch. 69, 19 Stat. 253; Mar. 12, 1894, ch.
36, 28 Stat. 41.)
Codification
R.S. Sec. 5579 derived from acts Aug. 10, 1846, ch. 178, Sec. 1, 9
Stat. 102; Mar. 20, 1871, ch. 1, 17 Stat. 1.
R.S. Secs. 5579 to 5594 (codified as sections 41 to 46, 48, 50, 51
to 53, 54 to 57, and 67 of this title) constituted Title 73 of the
Revised Statutes, entitled ``The Smithsonian Institution.'' A preamble
to these sections was as follows: ``James Smithson, esquire, of London,
in the kingdom of Great Britain, having by his last will and testament
given the whole of his property 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;
and the United States having, by an act of Congress, received said
property and accepted said trust; therefore, for the faithful execution
of said trust, according to the will of the liberal and enlightened
donor.''
R.S. Sec. 5579, as originally enacted, constituted the President,
the Vice-President, the Secretaries of State, the Treasury, War, and the
Navy, the Postmaster-General, the Attorney-General, the Chief Justice,
the Commissioner of the Patent Office, and the Governor of the District
of Columbia, and such persons as they might elect honorary members, an
establishment by the name of the ``Smithsonian Institution,'' for the
purposes and with the powers specified in the section as set forth here.
Amendments
1894--Act Mar. 12, 1894, substituted ``the Chief Justice, and heads
of executive departments'' for ``the Secretary of State, the Secretary
of the Treasury, the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, the
Postmaster-General, the Attorney General, the Chief Justice, the
Commissioner of Patents, the governor of the District of Columbia, and
other such persons as they may elect honorary members''.
1877--Act Feb. 27, 1877, substituted ``Patents'' for ``Patent
Office''.
Short Title of 1966 Amendment
Pub. L. 89-674, Sec. 1, Oct. 15, 1966, 80 Stat. 953, provided:
``That this Act [enacting section 65a of this title and repealing
section 65 of this title] may be cited as the `National Museum Act of
1966'.''
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in sections 57, 67 of this title.
