The Smithsonian Institution is a collection of scientific and cultural institutes, most of which are in Washington, D.C. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1846 from the bequest by the British scientist James Smithson for "an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." It is governed by a board of regents that includes the vice-president, chief justice, three senators, and three representatives. The Smithsonian consists of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Design and Decorative Arts (in New York City), the Joseph H. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (of Asian Art), the National Museum of African Art, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of American Art (formerly the National Collection of Fine Arts), the National Museum of American History, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Zoological Park, the Freer Gallery of Art, the National Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (in Panama), and other bureaus. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the National Gallery of Art are administered separately. A new Indian museum is planned, following a 1988 agreement that would allow liberal borrowing from New York's Museum of the American Indian. The Smithsonian publishes the monthly Smithsonian and many scientific and scholarly journals.
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