Letter from Joseph Henry to George Marsh

Smithsonian Institution Secretary Joseph Henry writes to George P. Marsh, requesting favors before Marsh travels to the Ottoman Empire. One wish is that Marsh will write a letter "in favor of our friend Prof. [Spencer Fullerton] Baird [Class of 1840] as a suitable person should one be required to fill the post of naturalist to the Institution." Baird joined the Smithsonian a few months later, becoming its first curator and enacting its function as a museum.