102 THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 



GAVEL used at the Convention at Cincinnati, Ohio, in June, 1856, at which 

 Mr. Buchanan was nominated for the Presidency. 



BIBLE on which Mr. Buchanan took the oath of office as President of the 

 United States, March 4, 1857. This bible belonged to Mrs. Salie S. 

 Carroll, by whom it was presented to President Buchanan in a letter 

 herewith reproduced. 



My dear Mr. Buchanan 



Having heard that a desire has been expressed by you or some member 

 of your family to possess the copy of the Bible upon which was administered 

 to you the oath of office as President of the U. States, & readily under- 

 standing how it would be treasured by any of your family or friends, & the 

 more so if presented by yourself, I cheerfully put aside my own appreciation 

 of it as a memento of the occasion and of the kind consideration of my 

 Husband in presenting it to me, and beg that you will do me the favor to 

 accept it through the hands of a mutual friend to whom I have entrusted 

 it for you. 



I remain very respectfully your friend, 



SaIvIE S. Carroll. 



Washington 7 Dec''' 1S39. 



JOHN HAMPDEN, old Engraving of a portrait of, presented to President 

 Buchanan by Mr. McGregor, M. P., for Glasgow. 



THE CHARLES L. FREER COLLECTION 



Under date of December 27, 1904, Mr. Charles L. Freer, of 

 Detroit, Mich., transmitted to the Smithsonian Institution an 

 ofifer to bequeath or make present conveyance of title to his 

 extensive art collection to the Institution or the United States 

 Government, under certain specified conditions, and to furnish 

 the means for erecting, after his death, a suitable building to 

 receive the collection, provided the Institution or the Govern- 

 ment vi^ould undertake its maintenance. This communication 

 was prefaced with the following explanation: 



These several collections include specimens of very widely separated 

 periods of artistic development, beginning before the birth of Christ and 

 ending to-day. No attempt has been made to secure specimens from 

 unsympathetic sources, my collecting having been confined to American 

 and Asiatic schools. My great desire has been to unite modern work with 

 masterpieces of certain periods of high civilization harmonious in spiritual 

 and physical suggestion, having the power to broaden esthetic culture and 

 the grace to elevate the human mind. 



