THE GREAT DESIGN: TWO LECTURES ON THE SMITHSON BEQUEST
BYJOHN QUINCY ADAMS. Edited, withan Introduction, by Wilcomb E. Washburn '48. Washington, D. C.: SmithsonianInstitution, 1965. 95 pp. $5.00.
Occasionally in the history of philanthropy the right combination in one man of money and imagination bears fruit in a benefaction of striking creativity and farreaching importance. Such was the case with the English chemist James Smithson whose 1826 bequest of over a half-million dollars to the United States "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men" made possible the foundation of the Smithsonian Institution twenty years later. But for philanthropy to be effective, faithful and skilled administrators - guardians of the givers' interests - are also essential. The Great Design tells the story of how John Quincy Adams strove in his closing years to bring about the successful transition of Smithson's philanthropic impulse into actuality.
This slender volume contains two 1839 addresses of Adams on the Smithson bequest, the editor's extensive introduction, a foreword by Lyman H. Butterfield - chief editor of the Adams papers - and eight illustrative plates including the Institution's first "Programme of Organization." In his introduction Wilcomb Washburn '48 describes in detail the circumstances which gave rise to the Adams lectures. Washburn concludes with the thought that thanks in large part to Adams' vision and persistence the Smithsonian's dedication to "pure" science and basic research took shape in an age devoted on the whole to utilitarianism. In the lectures Adams termed the bequest "one of the noblest benefactions ever made to the race of man" and interpreted its purpose as "improving the condition of mankind on earth." But there were diverse devils in the way! In the manner of his Puritan predecessors, Adams took up the lance against what he conceived to be a movement among his Congressional colleagues and others to turn the benefaction into "jobbing for parasites, and sops for hungry incapacity." Resisting all attempts to apply the money to the education of youth as incompatible with the donor's intentions, Adams had the satisfaction before his death in 1848 of seeing the inception of the Institution under Joseph Henry as an agency for the promotion and publication of advanced research.
In the Dartmouth circle it should finally be noted that the design and printing of this handsome book are the work of The Stine-hour Press, Lunenburg, Vt., which is headed by Roderick "Rocky" Stinehour '50. The recipient of several publishing awards, Stine-hour learned his craft under Professor Ray Nash of the College.
Instructor in History
