The Smithsonian acquired a fair amount of material to exhibit at the Centennial and then many exposition exhibiters (foreign and domestic) donated their exhibits to the Smithsonian after the close of the Exposition. I believe something like 42 railroad boxcars of material were shipped to Washington at the close of the Exposition. The Smithsonian had to build a new building to house its rapidly growing collections mainly as a consequence of the Exposition materials. There is an exhibit in the Smithsonian's Arts and Industries Building of some of the objects exhibited at Philadelphia. (This exhibit used to be larger but some of the cases have since been taken down.) This exhibit attempted not only to show what was exhibited but also the manner in which the objects were exhibited - the "exhibit techniques" of 1876. ************************************************ * Felicia Pickering * * * [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask] * ************************************************