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FROM THE ARCHIVES: SPOTLIGHT ON REGENTS

Theodore Roosevelt

Ex Officio Regent, 1901

Vice President Theodore 

Roosevelt, an Ex Officio Regent who served on the Board 

in 1901, established an early 

relationship with the Smithsonian when, as a boy, he 

corresponded with Secretary 

Spencer Baird. Later he began 

donating his natural history 

collections, particularly when 

he decided not to pursue a 

natural history career. 

Although Vice President 

Roosevelt’s membership on 

the Board of Regents was 

brief, as President he strongly 

Former President Theodore Roosevelt (left of flag) and other members of the Smithsonian expedition party 

to Africa, where he collected natural history specimens for the U.S. National Museum and live animals for the 

National Zoological Park

encouraged the Smithsonian to accept the Freer gift. 

When he left office he led collecting expeditions to Africa 

and South America to collect 

for the National Museum, 

providing many of the iconic 

specimens displayed in the 

new museum after it opened 

in 1910. He also supported 

funding for the Biological 

Survey of the Canal Zone in 

1910–1911, which led to the 

creation of the Smithsonian 

Tropical Research Institute. 

At one point there were 

plans to build a museum in his 

honor next to what is now the 

Natural History Museum.
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Jeannine Smith Clark

Citizen Regent, 1983–1995 

Jeannine Smith Clark joined 

the Board of Regents in 1983, 

and played an active role for 

the next 12 years. A Washington, D.C., community 

leader, Clark was a member 

of the D.C. Board of Elections 

and Ethics; was active in the 

Urban League, YWCA, Howard 

University Hospital board, and 

Phillips Collection council; and 

had volunteered at the Smithsonian for many years. 

She received a BA and MA 

in African studies from Howard University and taught at 

Sidwell Friends School and the 

University of the District of 

Columbia. At that time, women could not teach after their 

third month of pregnancy, so 

Clark directed her energies 

towards volunteer work when 

she started her family. 

Clark first volunteered for 

the Smithsonian during the 

1968 Poor People’s March 

on Washington. She tried to 

establish a program to take 

children from the Resurrection City campsite on tours of 

Smithsonian museums. 

She was a docent from 

1968 to 1977, giving tours of 

the Natural History Museum’s 

Africa Hall. She was a fundraiser for the Museum of 

African Art before it became 

part of the Smithsonian in 

1979. She also was an active 

member of the Smithsonian 

Women’s Committee, chairing 

its volunteer program in the 

late 1970s and early 1980s. 

As a Regent, she was appointed the first chairwomen 

Jeannine Smith Clark, 1980

the Cultural Education Committee in 1986. The committee consisted of 12 to 18 

members from outside the 

Smithsonian and focused its 

activities for the next decade 

on educational programs; 

diversity at all levels of the 

Smithsonian, including the 

monitoring and accountability 

of diversity efforts; sensitivity to cultural pluralism in 

exhibit programs; and public 

outreach. 

She also was a member 

and chair of the Board’s Audit 

and Review Committee from 

1985 to 1994, serving as chair 

in 1994, and on the Personnel 

Committee of the Audit and 

Review Committee from 1989 

to 1994. During her tenure 

on the Board, Clark also was 

appointed chair of the National Portrait Gallery Commission in 1989. 
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Fifty leaders of the scientific, political and industrial life of the country gathered at a conference held in the 

Smithsonian’s Great Hall in February 1927. In the front row, left to right: Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon; Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg; President Calvin Coolidge; Chief Justice William Howard Taft; and Acting 

Secretary of the Smithsonian Charles Greeley Abbot

William Howard Taft 

Ex Officio Regent, 1921–1930

William Howard Taft was the 

27th President of the United 

States (1909–1913) and the 

10th Chief Justice of the 

United States, during which 

time he served as an Ex Officio Regent on the Board. 

The Chief Justice was one 

of the most activist Chancellors of the Board. He was very 

involved in day-to-day Smithsonian activities and planning 

and even held staff meetings in the new U.S. National 

Museum building (now the 

National Museum of Natural 

History). As Chancellor, Taft 

First Lady Helen Herron Taft donated her inaugural gown (right) 

to the National Museum Collection 

in 1912, the first dress in the First 

Ladies gown collection

presided over the 1927 Conference on the Future of the 

Smithsonian, a major evaluation and planning effort that 

led to the Smithsonian’s first 

capital campaign, which was 

unfortunately launched just as 

the Stock Market crashed in 

the fall of 1929. 

First Lady Helen Herron 

Taft donated her inaugural 

gown to the National Museum, the first dress in the First 

Ladies gown collection. 
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Clarence Cannon 

Congressional Regent, 

1935–1964

The January 15, 1954, Board of Regents’ meeting: from left to right, Secretary Leonard Carmichael, Justice Owen J. Roberts, Representative John 

M. Vorys, Representative Clarence Cannon, Mr. Robert V. Fleming, Chief 

Justice Earl Warren (center), Senator Leverett Saltonstall, Dr. Vannevar 

Bush, Dr. Jerome C. Hunsaker, and Representative Leroy Johnson

Clarence Cannon, oil on canvas, by 

Irving Resnikoff (signed as Charles 

J. Fox), 1967

now the National Museum of 

American History) through the 

Congress. When the subcommittee hearings began on the 

MHT planning appropriation, 

Cannon suggested that the bill 

encompass construction as 

well as planning. Smithsonian 

staff hastily pulled together a 

budget for the full legislation 

that was then passed handily 

with Cannon’s support. (He 

also shepherded the Kennedy 

Center legislation through the 

Congress without opposition.) 

Cannon served on the 

Regents’ Executive Committee 

from 1941 to 1964, playing an 

active role in the affairs of the 

Smithsonian on many levels, 

as it coped with the Great 

Depression and World War II, 

and then began a period of 

growth in research and museum programs in the 1950s. 

Cannon had a lasting 

influence over the workings of Congress through his 

writings, including Procedure 

in the House of Representatives (1920) and Cannon’s 

Precedents of the House of 

Representatives (1936). He 

was elected a Representative 

(Democrat) from Missouri in 

1922 and retained that seat 

until his death.

Despite his reputation 

as a budget-slashing fiscal conservative, especially 

after he became chair of the 

House Appropriations Committee in 1941, Cannon was 

a strong advocate for the 

Smithsonian’s budget. As 

chair of the House Committee 

on Appropriations, Cannon 

shepherded the legislation 

for the National Museum of 

History and Technology (MHT; 

Cannon’s lifelong interest in 

American history was reflected in his first career, when he 

taught and authored several 

books on family and local 

history. He then studied law 

at the University of Missouri 

while teaching history at Stephens College and was admitted to the bar in 1908. 

In 1911, he joined the 

staff of his Congressman, 

Champ Clark, and served as 

House parliamentarian from 

1917 to 1920. Cannon soon 

established himself as a leading authority on parliamentary procedure. He held the 

position of parliamentarian of 

the Democratic National Convention from 1920 to 1960. 
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the Smithsonian in 1904 when 

Smithson’s cemetery plot was 

going to be moved for rock 

quarrying. 

Always interested in kites 

and flight, he supported 

Secretary Samuel P. Langley’s 

research into aerodynamics 

and photographed one of 

the flights of Langley’s “aerodrome.” Bell also donated 

$5,000 in 1891 to support the 

creation of the Smithsonian 

Astrophysical Observatory. In 

addition, Bell donated significant history of technology 

collections and was active in 

the evaluation of the Freer art 

collection when it was being 

offered to the Smithsonian.

In honor of his role at the 

Smithsonian, a bust of Bell 

by Victore Salvatore was presented to the Board of 

Regents at its December 9, 

1926, meeting.

Alexander Graham Bell

Citizen Regent, 1898–1922

Alexander Graham Bell was a 

protégé of the first Smithsonian Secretary, Joseph Henry. 

As he began his development of the electromagnetic 

telephone, Bell visited Henry 

in 1875 and asked what he 

thought of his proposed 

invention. Henry was impressed and told him to continue his work. Bell wrote to 

An instantaneous photograph 

by Alexander Graham Bell of Langley Aerodrome No. 5 in flight on 

May 6, 1896

his parents about the meeting 

and used that letter in patent 

fights over his invention. 

Bell was a lifelong supporter of the Smithsonian. 

After Henry died, he bought 

Henry’s scientific library to 

help the Henry family financially. He combined it and left 

it to the Smithsonian, where it 

currently is held in the Dibner 

Library. Bell was inspired by 

James Smithson and brought 

Smithson’s body from Italy to 

Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922), Scottish-born inventor and scientist, 

and later Smithsonian Regent, c. 1910s
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James Edwin Webb

Citizen Regent, 1970–1982 

James Edwin Webb, who 

joined the Board in 1970, 

previously served as the second NASA administrator from 

1961 to 1968, during which 

time he was responsible for 

the creation of the Apollo 

program. 

Webb’s energy was evident during his 12 years on 

the Board of Regents. When 

he first joined the Board, he 

found that it did not play a 

particularly active role in the 

affairs of the Smithsonian. 

Webb subsequently used his 

skills as a management specialist to focus on modernizing 

the Smithsonian’s management. He served as chair of 

the Executive Committee and, 

in collaboration with Secretary S. Dillon Ripley, encourJames Webb, c. 1966

aged the Regents to actively 

engage with the Smithsonian 

community. 

In 1982, the Smithsonian 

honored Webb by establishing 

the James E. Webb Fellowships for the promotion of 

excellence in the management of cultural and scientific 

not-for-profit institutions. Although no longer in existence, 

the program benefitted many 

staff by funding advanced education in management, such 

as MBA degrees, for Smithsonian staff who showed 

promise as future managers. Today the Smithsonian 

honors Webb with the James 

E. Webb Internship Program 

for Minority Undergraduate 

Juniors, Seniors and Graduate 

Students in Business and Public Administration. Designed 

to promote excellence and 

diversity in the management 

of not-for-profit scientific 

and cultural institutions, the 

10-week Smithsonian internships are offered to minority 

students who are U.S. citizens 

or permanent residents. 

Former Regent James E. Webb 

(center),with (from left) Gretchen 

Ellsworth, director of the Office of 

Fellowships and Grants, and fellowship winners Deborah Warner, 

associate curator and vice chair 

of the Department of Science and 

Technology at the National Museum of American History; Rebecca 

Webb of the Smithsonian Museum 

Shops; and Jon Yellin, director of 

the Office of Programming and 

Budget, 1983