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William C. Preston
From the collection of Smithsonian American Art Museum. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
William Preston of South Carolina was one of several senators who nearly derailed the founding of the Smithsonian Institution. James Smithson, illegitimate son of England’s Duke of Northumberland, was a noted natural scientist. His considerable fortune went to the United States government in 1835 "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge." Like many of his fellow senators, William Preston argued against accepting Smithson’s gift, insisting that the United States should not take such a substantial amount of money from an English aristocrat.
Smithsonian American Art Museum’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit lineWilliam C. Preston. 1842. George Peter Alexander Healy, born Boston, MA 1813-died Chicago, IL 1894. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the National Institute. CC0.
