Stone memorializing Joseph Henry
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- Memorial Type
- Memorial Context
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- Memorial Inscription
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Memorial Object
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Plaque/Marker
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Henry, Joseph
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Stone memorializing Joseph Henry
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The “Walk of Fame” was created in 1929 by then-president Hamilton Holt to honor significant historical figures. The memorial is located in the center of campus around Mills Lawn.
Joseph Henry, the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, served from 1846 to 1878, guiding the organization through the Civil War years while simultaneously acting as a science advisor to President Abraham Lincoln. During this period, the Smithsonian contributed to the war effort by collaborating with the Sanitary Commission and the Surgeon-General of the US Army to improve soldiers' health and comfort, while also collecting ethnological and other research data.
Before being appointed to the Smithsonian, Henry taught Natural History at Princeton University. A Princeton biographer wrote, "Though Henry identified as an anti-slavery sympathizer who "did not much like the idea of living in a slave state," he candidly acknowledged that his political principles alone would not have prevented him from accepting a teaching position in the South." This perspective reflected the complex moral positioning of many Northerners during this period of national division.
While supporting abolition, Henry did not believe in the equality of the races. Before the war, he believed that colonization was a good potential solution, donating funds to the New Jersey Colonization Society in 1839. And, in 1862, he barred Frederick Douglass from speaking on abolition at the Smithsonian, stating, “I would not let the lecture of the coloured man be given in the rooms of the Smithsonian.”
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A round stone block that makes the shape of a slanted water drop. 15” x 12”
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JOSEPH
HENRY
ALBANY
NEW YORK
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Holt, Hamilton
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1929
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Rollins College
Position: 2713 (29 views)