The David H.H. Felix Collection and the Beginnings of the Smithsonian's Museum of History and Technology

The Smithsonian’s new Museum of History and Technology opened in Washington in January 1964. As permanent exhibits were still being developed, the museum was initially partially empty. The opportunity was taken to borrow several early scientific instruments from the collection of a Philadelphia lawyer, David H.H. Felix (1904-1988). As a ‘naive’ collector of