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JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS. 129 



AYashington, February 5, 1877. 



A meeting of the Board of Eegents was held this day at 7 o'clock 

 p. m., in the ofiice of tbe Secretary. 



Present, Chief Justice Waite, Chancellor; Hon. T. W. Ferry, Hon. J. 

 W. Stevenson, Hon. A. A. Sargent, Hon. H. Clymer, Hon. G. W. Mc- 

 Crary, Hon. P. Parker, Hon. Geo. Bancroft, and the Secretary. 



Tbe minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. 



Mr. Bancroft, fVom the special committee appointed at the last meet- 

 iug, presented the following report of a memorial to be sent to Congress : 



MEMORIAL 



To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America 



in Congress assembled. 



The undersigned, Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, beg leave 

 respectfully to lay before you a question which has suddenly arisen, and 

 which can be solved only by your authority. 



In tbe year 184C, on tbe organization of the Smithsonian Institution 

 <'for tbe increase and diffusion of knowledge among men," Congress, to 

 tbe great relief of the Patent-Office and other public buildings, devolved 

 upon tbe Eegents of that Institution the custody of "all objects of art 

 and of foreign and curious research, and all objects of natural history, 

 plants, and geological and mineralogical specimens belonging or here- 

 after to belong to the United States, which may be in the city of Wash- 

 ington." 



In accordance with this enactment, the Institution has received and 

 carefully preserved all the specimens which have been brought together 

 from more than fifty public exploring expeditions, and has added speci- 

 mens collected by itself, or obtained from foreign museums by exchange, 

 till its present edifice, in the beginning of 187C, had become full to over- 

 flowing. 



By an act bearing date July 31, 1876, additional duties were laid upon 

 the Smithsonian Institution as custodian, and $4,500 were appropriated 

 "for repairing and fitting up the so-called Armoiy building, on the mall 

 between Sixth and Seventh streets, and to enable the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution to store therein and to take care of specimens of the extensive 

 series of the ores of the precious metals, marbles, building stones, coals, 

 and numerous objects of natural history now on exhibition in Philadel- 

 phia, including other objects of practical and economical value presented 

 by various foreign governments to the National Museum." 



As a fruit of tbis act of the General Government, the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution liuds itself the custodian of enormous collection* that had been 

 displayed at the Centennial Exhibition, and on the closing of that ex- 

 hibition, had been presented to the Uiiited States. These donations are 

 made by individuals among our own citizens, by foreign exhibitors, and 

 by several of the States of the Union, and there is scarcely a power in 

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