340 REPORT OF NATIONAL MI-SEUM, 1891

furnish the

means; but

this is relying

on

a

very

unccM-tain source,

and

thepolicy of

applying

to

Congress

for

any

aid ^is doubtful.

Having

said this nuu'h, it

was

easyto continue

by

expressing the

•oi)inion that the

Regents had

^{beeii in error in}

supposing

^it necessary to

put up

^a building for the receptionof the great

museum

^of the

exploring

expedition

presented by

Congress.

The next

year

made some change

ⁱⁿ the

views

of Prof.

Henry. The

presenceof his

new

assistant secretary, Prof. Baird,

and

theeviden(*e of the collection that

was now growing up under

his

own

eyes, that

museums may ^be made important

agencies forscientihc discovery,

had perhaps

^increasetl hispersonalinterest in

such

matters.

And

again

:

Tliough theformationofa generalcollectionisneitherwithintheiueans

and

i)iovince of the Institution, it is

an

object

which ought

to

engage

the attention of Congress,

A

^general

nuiseum appears

to

be a

neces- sary establishmentat theseat of

government

of

every

civilized nation.

* * * Indeed, the

Government has

already

formed

the nucleus of

such

a

museum

in the collection

now

in the

Patent

OfHce.

An

establishmentof this

kind can

only

be by

(lovernment,

and

the proposition

ought never

to

be encouraged

of putting this

duty

on the limited

thongh

liberal

bequest

ofa foreigner.

The Smithsonian

Institution will r<'adily take the

mental

direction nf ail establishment of this kind, giv<' plans for its organization

and arrangement, provided

it

be

requested to

do

so,

and

the

means

for effectingthe object

be

liberally supplied.*

In thereport forthe year 1852 Prof.

Henry

definitelystated that the

Regents had concluded

thatit

was

not advisable to take

charge

^ofthe great

museum

of the exploring expedition,!

and

^also expressed the hopeful opinion that

"there can be

^little

doubt

that in

due

time

ample

provision will

be made

^{fora library}

and museum

at thecapital of this

Union worthy

ofa

government where

perpetuity

depends upon

thevir- tue

and

intelligence of thepeoi)le."|

Inthe reportfor the year1853,presented

January 14-March

11,1851, another step

toward

the transfer of the

museum

^is chronicled.

The

SecretaryAvrote

:

I

have been informed by

the

Commissioner

of

Patents

that thespace

now

occupied in the buildingof the

Patent

Ottice

by

theNational

Mu- seum

^is imperatively required forthe display of

models; and he sug

gests that a part or the

whole

of the

Smithsonian

buildingshall Tje

purchased

forthe deposit of ^thiscollection. If

Congress

will entirely relievethe

Smithsonian fund from

the

expense

of collecting

and main

taining a

museum,

alargeportion ofthe present building

would be

^uii

] ecessary,

and

the proposition to

purchase

a part or the Avhole of it

niight

be

properly entertained.

[The Smithsonian

Institution, if re- quired,

would

take the supervisionof

a Government museum, and would

turn overto itall the

specimens

collected after

they had been examined and

described.

The importance

of acollection at theseat of

Goveru-

*(Reportfor 1851,p. 25.) tSixthAnimalReport,p. 253,

t /.<•., p. 253=

(

•

THE GENESIS (W THE iVATIONaL MtlsEUM. 341

liieutto illustrate thephysical ge(>,i;i;iphy, natural history,

and

etliuol-

ogy

of the

Uuited

States,

cau

uot

be

too highly estinuited.

But

the

support

ofsuch a collection

ought

uot

tohe

a

bUrtheu upou

the Smith- soniau fund;

The year

1854

was

the stiniug one in the historyof theInstitution, ttud little

was done towards

the transferof the

museum. The

great lowerhall,

having beeu

coiUpleted^ Wrts lying idle.

The Smithsonian

collections

were

rapidly iucredsing ttltder the

management

of Prof.

Baird, of

whose

worlc^in this^direction uiore will be saidlater,

and

a considerable

number

of

(ioverumeut

colleetions

had come

directly into the

custody

of the Institution

—

ⁱⁿ

^{bulk and}

^value

^more

^{extensive than}

thosein the Patent Oftice, thoseof the exploring expedition excepted.

In this year, too, the custody of the

Patent

Office collection

was

transferred tothe ConunissionerofPatents,

and an

ap]irr,priation

made

fortheir support.

In 1855, inliis report, presented

March

1, 1S5G, the Secretary said:

The

lower storyof the

main

building consistsof

one

largehall,tobe appropriated to a

museum

or library. Itis at jjresent unoccupied, but will

be brought

into use as soonas the

means

are provided forfurnish- ing it

with

proi^er cases for containing the objects to

which

itmaj"

be

appropriated.

In another place

he

expressed the

hope

that

Congress

v\"ould in

due

timerelieve the Institution

from

the support of the building,

and

ulti-

mately

appropriate the greater part of itto anational

museum.*

This

was

the first time that the

term

National

Museum was

i^ublicly

used by Prof Henry

orin therejjortsofthe

Smithsonian

Institutiou

—

a

significant fact,

and one which shows

a step in the progressof the

nuiseum

idea

aud

a revivalof the plan

promoted by

the National In stitute

from

1840to 1846.

The

fact that tlie

Smithsonian museum,

in itself, could

now

claim to

be

the bestgeneral collection of natural history so far as

Xorth Amer-

ica

was concerned probably

stimulated theSecretary's enthusiasm, for

he announced

the factin the report with evident pride.

In

March,

185«;, the subject ofthe

removal

ofthecollections from the

Patent

Office

was

presentedto the

Regents by

the Secretary, but the

minutes

contain

no

record oftlieirdecision.

In the Secretary'sreport for185(), presented to the

Regents January

20-28, 1857,the

matter came up

again torremark,

and

Prof.

Henry,

as

was

his custom,

spoke

of the obstacles to the progress of the Insti- tution

caused by

the restriction of the charter,

and

recurring to the nniseum, said:

The

adverseettectsoftheearly

and

consequently imperfectlegislation' ought, therefore, as far as possible, to

be

obviated;

and

this

would

readilybe

done

if

Congress would

relievethe Institntion from the care 'ofa large collection of

specimens

i>rincipallybelonging to the

Govern-

ment,

and pundiase

the buildingto

be used

as a depository of allthe

*"Report 1855,p. 16.

34:2

REPORT OF NATIONAL Ml^SEUM,

1891.

objects of natural liistory

aud

the fine arts

belonging

to the natioih Ifthis

were done

a

few rooms would be

sufficient for traiisactino- the business ofthe Institution,

and

alarge portion ofthe iiic:>nie

would be

fvoe, to

be

applied to the

more immediate

objects ol' tlie bequest. In- deed, it

would

be a gain to science c(tnld the Institution give

away

the linilding for no other consideration tliau thatof

being

relieved

from

the costly

charge

ofthe collections; and, for the present, it

may be

well to ado])t theplan

suggested

in ahite report of the

Commissioner

of Pat- ents,

namely,

to

remove

the

museum

ofthe exploring expedition,

which now

fills a large

and

valuable

room

inthe

Patent

Office,

wanted

^for the exhibition of models, to the spacionshall ofthe Institution, atpresent unoccuijied,

and

^tocontinue

under

the directionofthe

Regents

theap- j)ropriation

now

annually

made

^for the preservation

and

displayofthe collections.

Although

the

Eegents

a

few

years

ago

declined to accept this

mu- seum

as agift, yet, since ex])erience

has shown

that the buildingwill ultimately

be

filledwith objectsofnatural historybelongingto the

Gen-

eral

Government,

which, forthe

good

of science, it will

be

necessary to preserve, it

may be

a qnestion whether, in consideration of this fact,it

would be

well to offerthe nseof the large

room immediately

forana- tional

museum,

of

which

the

Smithsonian

Institnfion

would

be the

mere

curator,

and

the

expense

of nuiintnining

which

sh(»uld be paid

by

the

General Government. The

cost of

keeping

the

museum

ofthe explor- ing expedition,

now

ⁱⁿ the

Patent

Office, including heating,

pay

^of

watchmen,

etc., is

about

$5,000,

and

^if the plan i>roiK)sed is

adopted

the Institution

and

the Patent Officewill both

be

benetited.

The

bur-

den which

is

now thrown

ontlie Institution,ofpreserving the

specimens which have been

collected

by

the different expeditions instituted

by Government dnring

the last ten years,will be at leastin i)art

lemoved, and

the

Patent

Office will acquire the occu])ancy of

one

of thelargest

rooms

initsbuildingfor the legitimate purposes of itsestablishment.

It isbelieved that thel)enefit

from

this plan is soobvious that

no

ob- jection to it

W(mld be made

^{in (}'ongress,

and

^{that it}

wonld meet

the approbation of^tlie public generally.

I

can

.find

no

record in the

minutes

oftheRegents,

but have been

in-

formed by

Mr.

W.

^J. Rhees, of the

Smithsonian

Institution, that

an urgent

request ^forthe useof the hall

was made by

the

Commissioner

of

Patents and

the Secretaryof the Interior,

and

that the

Board

de- cidedto grantthisrequest

on

the conditionthat

Congress

shoulda])pro- l)riate

money

^for the construction of the cases

and

the transfer of the collections,

and

that the Secretary of the Interior should providefor the

expenses

of the care of the collections after theirtransfer in the

same manner

^{as before.}

The

question of the legalityof the transfer of the collections

was submitted by

the Secretary of the Interior to the Attorney-General,

by whom

^it

was

held that the provision in theeighth section ofthe act of

August

4, 1854 (10 Stats., 572), placing the collections

under

the controlofthe

Commissioner

of Patents,

and

authorizing the

employ- ment by him

of keepers therefor,

was designed

to

be temporary

only,

and

that the act establishing the

Smithsonian

Institution, as well as that

making

the appropriation in 1857,

were

to

be regarded

as indicat-

THE

(iENESIS

OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 343

ing the

purpose

of

Congress

respecting

permanent

provision forthese collections,*

TlieappropriationofIS.")!, referred to

by

the Attorney-General,

was one

giving -$15,000 forthe constrnction of eases

and

$2,000 for the re-

moval

^ofthecollectious.

(March

3, l-SoT. 11 Stats., 219.)

In

commenting upon

this action, Prof,

Henry,

in hisrepr>rt for1857,

remarked

:

At

the lastsession of

Congress an

ai)propriation

was made

^for the construction

and

erection of cases to receive the collections of the

United

States exploring expedition

and

others in

Washington, and

alsofor the transfer

and arrangement

of the siiecimens This appro- priation AA^as granted in accordance with the

recommendation

of the late Secretary of the Interior

and

the

Commissioner

of Patents, in order that the large

room

^{in the}

Patent

Office occupied

by

the

museum might

be

used

forthe

more

legitimate purposes of tliat establishment.

We

i)resume that the other jiait (»f the

recommendation

will also be carried out,

namely,

that the

annual

appropriation

be

continued

which has

heretofore

been made

for the care ofthis i)ortionof the

Govern- ment

property.

While,

on the

one

hand,

no

appropriation should be

made which would

serve to lessen tlie distinctive character of Smith- son's bequest,

on

theother it is evident that the

Government

should not

impose any burdens upon

the Institution

which would

impair its

usefulnessordivertitsfunds

iTom

their legitimate purpose.1

In 1853,

by

the act of

June

2 (11 Stats., 301),

an

approiuiation of

$4,000, '"forthe preservationof thecollection oi' theex]floring

and

^sur-

veying

expeditions of tlie

Government," was made

as acontingentex-

pense

inthe officeof the Secretiiry of tlie Interior.

The management

of this aj)]>ropriation

and

of all

which

followed it

from yeartoyear

was always

})Iaced entirely in the

hands

of the Sec- retaryof the

Smithsonian

Institution.

In the rei>ort tor 1858, Prof.

Henry gave

the following concise his- tory of the relations of the

Smithsonian

histitntioii to the national collections:

It will

be

recollected that

by

the

law

of (Congress incorporatingthis Institution "all ol)jects of art

and

(ifforeign

and

curiousresearch,

and

all objects ofnatural liistpry, plants,

and

geological

and

mineralogical

specimens

belonging to,or hereafter to

belong

to the

United

States

which may ^be

^{in the city of} \yasldngton, in

whosesoever custody

the

same may

be, shall be delivered to

such

persons as

may be

authorized

by

the

Board

of liegents,to receivethem."

The

law thus giving to the

Smithsonian

Institution all

specimens

illustrativeof nature

and

art to be

found

in theseveral ofiflces

and

de- l>artments of

Government was

notconstruedasrendering it obligatory

on

the liegents to accept these objects if they<'onsi<leredit expedient to

do

so.

Inasmuch,

then, as this collection Avas neither essential to theplan of organization nordirectly subservient tothe

comprehensive purpose

of the

donor

inregard to a world-wide l)enetit, it

was

theulti-

mate

decisionof a majority of the

Board

that it

ought

not to

be

ac-

*LetterofHou. William^1>\Vilas, Seci-ctaryof theluteriur,tothe Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

tSmithsonianReport, ^18n7,p. 14.