Smithsonian Institution

Overview

The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education and research complex — 21 museums, the National Zoo, and nine research facilities — founded by an Act of Congress on August 10, 1846 (Smithsonian Institution). It is named for a man who never visited the United States: James Smithson, a British scientist whose 1826 will left his fortune “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” (Smithsonian Institution).

Smithson died in Genoa, Italy, in 1829 at about age 64, leaving his estate to his nephew with the stipulation that it would pass to the American government if the nephew died without heirs (Smithsonian Institution). The nephew died in 1835, unmarried and childless; President Andrew Jackson announced the bequest to Congress that year, and Congress accepted it on July 1, 1836 (Smithsonian Institution). The estate — more than 100,000 gold sovereigns — was delivered to the Philadelphia mint in 1838 and recoined at more than $500,000 (Smithsonian Institution).

President James K. Polk signed the founding act on August 10, 1846, establishing the Institution as a trust administered by a Board of Regents and a Secretary (Library of Congress). Legally it is an “independent federal trust” — not a traditional federal agency — and its Board of Regents includes the Vice President, the Chief Justice, members of Congress, and public members (Library of Congress). The Institution describes its work as “preserving heritage, discovering new knowledge, and sharing our resources with the world,” carried out across its museums, research centers, and the National Zoo (Library of Congress). A fire in 1865 destroyed Smithson’s personal papers, diaries and mineral collection; his remains were brought from Genoa in 1904 and placed in a marble tomb in the Castle, escorted by Alexander Graham Bell (Smithsonian Institution).

The bequest itself was not uncontroversial. When President Jackson alerted Congress to the bequest in 1835, advocates of states’ rights — notably Senators John C. Calhoun and William C. Preston — argued that using Smithson’s money to found a national institution exceeded the federal government’s constitutional powers; proponents countered that Article I, Section 8 covered it (Library of Congress). Congress accepted the gift, totaling more than $500,000, and the founding act followed eight years later (Library of Congress). The Institution’s unusual legal character persists: it does not exercise regulatory powers beyond its own buildings and grounds, and laws such as the Freedom of Information Act and the Administrative Procedure Act do not govern its administration (Library of Congress).

The January 6 collection — and the 2025 donation nobody else reported

After the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the National Museum of American History began collecting protest ephemera — signs and banners discarded on the National Mall — the very next day, with curator Frank Blazich spearheading the effort (The Art Newspaper). Later acquisitions included objects connected to those who acted against the pro-Trump mob: material from veteran groups’ clean-up efforts, and insignia from National Guard troops and police officers (The Art Newspaper). Objects abandoned inside the Capitol building itself could not be collected because of the ongoing federal investigation (The Art Newspaper).

That 2022 collecting project is what the leading search results cover. What they miss entirely is what happened four years later: a supporter of the January 6 defendants — Trisha Hope — donating her Jan. 6-themed items to the same museum (Galveston County Republican Party). According to the account on the Galveston County Republican Party’s site, a Smithsonian representative approached Hope at the 2024 Republican National Convention about her hat and earrings, which were designed to highlight and support Jan. 6 defendants, and asked whether she would donate them for a future exhibit related to the RNC (Galveston County Republican Party). She then worked with Claire Jerry, the curator for the Division of Political History at the National Museum of American History (Galveston County Republican Party).

On May 20, 2025, Hope arrived at the Smithsonian — accompanied by Jeremy Brown and Sara Carpenter — and permanently placed the hat and earrings in its collection (Galveston County Republican Party). The page says the items honored specific people connected to January 6: Master Sergeant and Green Beret Jeremy Brown, former NYPD 9/11 first responder Sara Carpenter, and Texans Mark and Jalise Middleton, who ran a nonprofit assisting the defendants (Galveston County Republican Party). The hat’s design was inspired by How to Pardon the J6ers: A Comprehensive Strategy Guide for President Donald J. Trump, the book by J6 Pardon Project founder Suzzanne Monk (Galveston County Republican Party). The same account states the items were not on public display at the time of writing (Galveston County Republican Party).

The National Museum of American History

The National Museum of American History opened in 1964 as the National Museum of History and Technology, on Constitution Avenue NW between 12th and 14th Streets (National Museum of American History). It holds roughly 1.8 million artifacts and three shelf miles of archival documents — 22,000 linear feet — including the Star-Spangled Banner, the First Ladies’ gowns, Abraham Lincoln’s top hat, Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers, and 100,000 pages of Duke Ellington’s unpublished music (National Museum of American History). It is open every day except December 25, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and admission is free (National Museum of American History).

What this profile does not claim

• This profile does not claim Trisha Hope’s donated items are, or will ever be, on public display; the only account of the donation says they were placed in the permanent collection.
• It does not assert who currently serves as Secretary of the Smithsonian; no fully-read source confirmed that this session.
• It does not give precise collection-wide holdings or annual attendance figures; the scale figures cited are the first-party ones (21 museums, the National Zoo, nine research facilities).
• It does not claim the museum’s planned RNC exhibit was ever mounted; the source described it only as prospective.