FROM PAST TO PRESENT 



The evolution of a museum in the twentieth century involves 

 many challenges and some frustrations. Solving problems of 

 provenance in the identifying of items in gift collections is espe- 

 cially baffling. Establishing provenance is a vital first step in 

 determining the identity of an artifact in terms of its makers and 

 where they live (or once lived) and of the materials and techniques 

 of its manufacture. Although the journalist's "who-what-where- 

 when-how — and sometimes why"is a useful beginning, the end of 

 the story often hinges on "if" or "perhaps." And thereby some- 

 times hangs not a tale, but a mystery. 



An intriguing mystery of the Botanical Museum collections 

 might be called "the Minns Mystery." It concerns seven pieces of a 

 collection of nine pieces of Polynesian bark cloth. What could be 

 a key clue appears in Pauline Ames Plimpton's biography of her 

 father, Oakes Ames, who was Curator of the Botanical Museum 

 1923-1927, and Director 1937-1945. Her book is a collection of 

 excerpts from her father's journals, diaries, and letters. 



Professor Ames mentions a visit from Miss Minns soon after 



the creation by an anonymous donor of a memorial fund to 



commemorate Professor Goodale. This could have taken place in 



1923, when Miss Minns was in her eighties. 

 "Expressing her great admiration for Professor Goodale, she 



stated her wish to make a gift to Harvard for the benefit of the 



Botanical Museum, a memorial fund of $50,000. . .to be called 



the Mary Hancock Fund . . . the income to be used for economic 



botany." Professor Ames adds that "there was a twinkle in her old 



eyes" as she explained that the nest egg for the fund was a twenty 



dollar gold piece, a birthday gift to her great-grandmother, Mary 



Hancock, from her father. 



Miss Susan Minns died in 1938, in her ninety-ninth year. The 

 Botanical Museum is not mentioned as the beneficiary of any 

 additional bequest in her will (dated July 17, 1936). 



Instead, Miss Minns had lost no time in establishing the Mary 

 Hancock Fund "of $50,000 in memory of Miss [sic] Mary Han- 

 cock The income only to be used for the Economic purposes 



of the Botanical Museum and may include the purchase of 



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