The Cosmos Club is a 501(c)(7) private social club in Washington, D.C., that was founded by John Wesley Powell in 1878 as a gentlemen's club for those interested in science. Among its stated goals is, "The advancement of its members in science, literature, and art and also their mutual improvement by social intercourse."
Cosmos Club in December 2017
Cosmos Club at Lafayette Square, c. 1921
725 Madison Place
Cosmos Club on Lafayette Square
John Wesley Powell was an American geologist, U.S. Army soldier, explorer of the American West, professor at Illinois Wesleyan University, and director of major scientific and cultural institutions. He is famous for his 1869 geographic expedition, a three-month river trip down the Green and Colorado rivers, including the first official U.S. government-sponsored passage through the Grand Canyon.
Powell as he appears at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.
Powell served as the second Director of the United States Geological Survey, a post he held from 1881 to 1894. This photograph dates from early in his term of office.
John Wesley Powell and his wife, Emma, in Detroit in 1863.
First camp of the John Wesley Powell expedition, in the willows, Green River, Wyoming, 1871.
