Review of the Smithsonian Institution's Website

The Smithsonian Institution is arguably one of the most famous museums in the United States, if not the World. The mission statement of the Smithsonian requires some background information. The mission statement is taken straight from the last will and testament, written in 1826, of a British scientist James Smithson. In his will Smithson named his nephew as his beneficiary and said that if his nephew died without any heirs (which did in fact happen in 1835), the entirety of Smithson’s estate was to go to the United States to form an institution that would increase knowledge and the diffusion of that knowledge among the American people (“Smithsonian: History”). On the Smithsonian website, the mission statement is under the label of “James Smithson’s gift”. It reads, “I then bequeath the whole of my property…to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for the increase & diffusion of knowledge…” (“Smithsonian: Mission”).

At first glance, that mission appears to be a bit broad, however when one goes exploring through the Smithsonian Institution’s website, they will see that the Institute is quite successful at meeting the requirements that James Smithson laid down in his will. According to its website the Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum complex and every one of the individual museums that belong to the Smithsonian Institution has its own website. However the main website of the Smithsonian does a good job at showing the visitor of the site the many different exhibits that are on display at all of the various museums. By exploring the website I found that the Smithsonian has what they deem “affiliate relationships” with other museums around the country. This relationship allows the Smithsonian to share traveling exhibits with these museums and act as a mentor for the museum that it is affiliated with. Not only does the website give the name of the museums that it is affiliated with by state, for each individual museum it provides a description of what the museum’s mission statement it, the contact information such as phone number, address and website, along with the hours of the museum. The website also provides a brief description of how the Smithsonian Institution works with the affiliated museum. The Smithsonian’s website also has a section dedicated solely to the research programs that are taking place at the institution and the various research centers that the Smithsonian is home to. These research centers and programs give support to the Smithsonian’s claim that it wants to increase knowledge, one of the main goals of their mission statement.

When looking at what the two main goals of the Smithsonian Institution are, the increase of knowledge and the diffusion of knowledge, it was easy for me to tell that the Smithsonian was intent on meeting the goals of its mission based on what I saw on their website. It would take days to go through all of the material the Smithsonian has posted for free use by the people who visit the website. I found that on nearly every one of the different museums’ websites there was a link to different things that would further the visitors knowledge on the subject. Sometimes the links were to further reading on the subject, sometimes they were “finding guides” that lead the visitor to research that was accessed frequently, sometime the links were to pictures or to libraries that had additional information on the subject. The Smithsonian’s website also told the visitor about the various traveling exhibits the Institution currently has out around the country and where to find them. Again the Smithsonian provides the visitor links to more resources and information about the subject presented in the exhibit. In almost every part of the Smithsonian’s website that I visited, there were links to where the visitor could gain more knowledge on the subject be it from the Smithsonian Institution or through another academic source.

In my opinion, the Smithsonian Institution’s website does a suburb job at meeting the goals of the Institution that are set down in its mission statement. In fact, I have actually used the Smithsonian’s website in the past for research when I was writing a paper and thought that the information I found on the site was extremely helpful and was easy to find given how well organized the site was. The entire site is well organized and easy for the visitor to use which helps the Smithsonian to further reach the goals in its mission statement through its website. All of the information I saw on the website made me interested in the subject matter being talked about and made me want to go visit the different museums even more than I did before I visited the Smithsonian’s website. It is because of this, that I think the Smithsonian Institution did an excellent job at meeting the goals of its mission statement through its website.

Here is a link to the Smithsonian Institution’s website: http://www.si.edu

Works Cited

“Smithsonian: History.” About Smithsonian. 2010. The Smithsonian Institution. 19 April 2010 http://www.si.edu/about/history.htm.

“Smithsonian: Mission.” About Smithsonian. 2010. The Smithsonian Institution. 19 April 19, 2010 http://www.si.edu/about/mission.htm.