ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 15 



money for the purpose, he, together with two or three otlier 

 patriotic citizens, contributed of their own private funds suffi- 

 cient to enable him to collect specimens illustrative of the State's 

 resources, which he took to Vienna and exhibited at the Inter- 

 national Exposition. 



In connection with the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876, 

 though the State again failed to make an appropriation for the 

 purpose. Professor Kerr, out of the limited funds of the survey, 

 made an exhibit of the building and ornamental stones of the 

 State, which Avas commended for its excellence; and he remained 

 at Philadelphia during much of the time of the Exposition as 

 one of the judges. While there, under the direction of the 

 Exposition authorities, he delivered an address on the history 

 and resources of North Carolina, and did everything in his 

 power, by way of distributing reports and circulars, and by per- 

 sonal interviews, to direct the attention of capitalists to the 

 State. Subsequently he was the leading spirit in making the North 

 Carolina exhibit at the Atlanta Exposition (1881), and his pre- 

 liminary work made the fine exhibits at Boston (1882) and New 

 Orleans (1884) practicable undertakings. 



The distribution of Professor Kerr's reports, and his official 

 correspondence with persons in our own and other countries, have 

 been doubtless of great service in the development of the State's 

 resources; not only in importing capital, but also in educating 

 the people of the State, thereby giving them a more intelligent 

 understanding of the nature, extent and worth of their proper- 

 ties. 



The educational value of his work among the people of the 

 State — accomplished through his reports, newspaper articles, cor- 

 respondence, lectures, private talks, and the State Museum — has 

 been of itself a matter of considerable importance. 



Not least among his undertakings was the State Museum, at 

 Raleigh. It was a part of his plan, from the time of his first 

 connection with the survey, to bring together such series of 

 specimens as would represent the general natural history and 

 natural resources of the State. He used to say that he wanted 



