Object Details
- Author
- Joseph Henry Papers Project
- Subject
- Chase, Salmon Portland
- National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)
- United States Congress
- Smithsonian Institution Building (Washington, D.C.)
- United States. Secretary of the Treasury
- Category
- Historic Images of the Smithsonian
- This image was scanned from the Joseph Henry Papers Volume 10, page between pages 278 and 279.
- Summary
- Five dollar bill created by the National Currency Act of February 25, 1863, which established a uniform currency to be issued by charter banks, as in the example above. Later that year, the National Academy of Sciences, of which Joseph Henry, first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, was a member, in response to a request from Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase, formed a committee to review proposals for preventing the counterfeiting of paper money.
- The National Academy of Sciences was established on March 3, 1863, by an act of the United States Congress. The purpose of the Academy was to advance science and to advise the federal government on scientific matters. Joseph Henry, first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, was named as one of the academy's fifty members and chaired its inaugural meeting in New York. He initially declined a leadership position due to his role at the Smithsonian, but would become the Academy's president in 1868. The Smithsonian furnished rooms in the Smithsonian Institution Building, or "Castle," to the organization for its meetings and library.
- Contained within
- Original Image Courtesy of the National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History
- Contact information
- Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu
- 1863
- Standard number
- SIA2012-3533
- Restrictions & Rights
- No restrictions
- Type
- Document
- Paper
- Physical description
- Number of Images: 1 ; Color: Black and White ; Size: 6 3/4w x 10h ; Type of Image: Document ; Medium: Paper
- Place
- New York (N.Y.)
- Smithsonian Archives - History Div
- Topic
- Science
- Secretaries
- Money
- Record ID
- siris_sic_13384
