The Smithsonian Years (1847-1874)
Joseph Henry (1797-1878) was an American scientist who experimented in electromagnetism (the unit of electrical inductance, the henry, is named after him) and who also had a long interest in meteorology. In the late 1820s, he was involved in weather observation data reduction from an early weather monitoring network in New York State as a professor at the Albany Academy. He became the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution when it was founded in 1846. As Secretary, he started a program of organized weather data collection. There were 150 volunteer observers by 1849 and by 1860 there were 500 observers reporting.
Some observers submitted monthly reports of daily observations, while the more important locations supplied observations daily by telegraph. In some cases the Smithsonian provided equipment to the observers. The Smithsonian's network eventually grew to over 600 observers across the US and in Latin America and the Caribbean. The telegraph companies transmitted the data for free to the Smithsonian. In 1856 Joseph Henry began posting a US weather map in the Smithsonian building for public use. The first US storm tracking and weather predictions were made with this data. In May 1857 the newspaper the Washington Evening Star started publishing weather conditions for 20 different cities based on the Smithsonian data.
An 1860 booklet providing instructions to weather observers in the Smithsonian network is available below for download (78 pages):
Arnold H Guyot
Arnold H Guyot (1807-1884) was also responsible for setting up the Smithsonian weather observer network, organizing and sometimes equipping 50 observing stations. A geologist and geographer, he was born in Switzerland but emigrated to the US in 1848. He became a professor of geology at Princeton University. In 1852 he published his book "Tables - Meteorological and Physical" based on his observations. It became a standard meteorological reference, and the Smithsonian Meteorological Tables were later based on it. The 1884 fourth edition is available for download below (770 pages):
The Smithsonian's weather observation and prediction program was severely disrupted by the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865. The institution lost the observations from the seceding southern states, other volunteer observers were caught up in the war, and the telegraph system was preoccupied with war-related traffic.
A November 1869 list of Smithsonian weather observers and stations for the period 1849-1868 may be downloaded below (48 pages):
Soon the Smithsonian began to feel the burden of financing the meteorological program and in 1865 Joseph Henry proposed that the federal government take responsibility for storm tracking and weather prediction. In 1870 the US Congress approved a bill making the US Army Signal Service responsible for these activities. In 1874 the Signal Service took over the Smithsonian's volunteer observer network, marking an end to the Smithsonian meteorological observation program.
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