Life and Work As Smithsonian Secretary
Abbot would become the Assistant Secretary at the Smithsonian Institution in 1918, upon the death of Frederick W. True. In his role as Assistant Secretary he would oversee the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, the International Exchange Service, and the SAO. He also co-created the Smithsonian Scientific Series books, which helped raise funds for the Smithsonian.
Ten years later, on January 10, 1928, he became the fifth Secretary of the Smithsonian after the death of Charles Doolittle Walcott. Abbot would also maintain his position as Director of the Astrophysical Observatory. In 1927, Walcott had finalized the Smithsonian's strategic plan, which Abbot took on responsibility for upon his election as Secretary. The Smithsonian began a capital campaign in 1929, coinciding with the start of the Great Depression. During this tenure, Abbot oversaw the Smithsonian's participation in Works Progress Administration projects, including the Federal Art Project. Projects included new buildings and artwork at the National Zoo, and the start of the Smithsonian's first media project, a radio show called The World is Yours. The program would be ceased in 1942 due to World War II. In the 1930s an expansion was approved for the National Museum of Natural History building, which would not begin until the 1960s. The Institute for Social Anthropology was also transferred to the Smithsonian during this time. While Secretary, Abbot would fail to acquire the National Gallery of Art for the Smithsonian. Abbot's role in the United States National Museum was also minimal, and was under the primary care of Assistant Secretary Alexander Wetmore.
He was the first Smithsonian Secretary to retire, ending his tenure on July 1, 1944. Following retirement, he was awarded Secretary Emeritus status and proceeded to continue his research work. The first Smithsonian holiday party would be held during his tenure. At the party, Abbot sang and played the cello for the partygoers. While in Washington, he was a deacon at the First Congregational Church. He also played tennis frequently at the former tennis courts at the Smithsonian Castle.
Read more about this topic: Charles Greeley Abbot
Famous quotes containing the words life, work, smithsonian and/or secretary:
“There was something so free and self-contained about him, something in the young fellow’s movements, that made that officer aware of him. And this irritated the Prussian. He did not choose to be touched into life by his servant.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“We ought, says Kant, to become acquainted with the instrument, before we undertake the work for which it is to be employed; for if the instrument be insufficient, all our trouble will be spent in vain. The plausibility of this suggestion has won for it general assent and admiration.... But the examination can be only carried out by an act of knowledge. To examine this so-called instrument is the same as to know it.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)
“The truth is, the whole administration under Roosevelt was demoralized by the system of dealing directly with subordinates. It was obviated in the State Department and the War Department under [Secretary of State Elihu] Root and me [Taft was the Secretary of War], because we simply ignored the interference and went on as we chose.... The subordinates gained nothing by his assumption of authority, but it was not so in the other departments.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)