2i; 



THE MUSEUM. 



The Byron Reed Collection. 



The museum of the Omaha Pubhc 

 Library was opened to the pubhc a few 

 days ago in the room assigned it in the 

 new Library Building. This collection 

 (which is known as "The Byron Reed 

 Collection" was bequeated the City of 

 Omaha, Neb., about two years ago by 

 Hon. Byron Reed, and consists of a very 

 fine collection of old and valuable books, 

 manuscripts, portraits, autographs, old 

 newspapers and periodicals, paper 

 money, coins and medals and is valued 

 at about $80,000.) 



A few of the books relating to Nat- 

 ural History, are, Audubon's "Birds of 

 America" and "Quadrupeds of North 

 America;" Wilson's "American Ornith- 

 ology;" Studer's "Birds of North Am- 

 erica;" Coues' "Birds of the Colorado 

 Valley," "Birds of the Northwest," 

 "Fur-bearing Animals" and "Key to 

 North American Birds;"Baird's "Mam- 

 mals of North America;" "The Ancient 

 Fauna of Nebraska," and many oth- 

 ers. 



Among the old and valuable books 

 are the writings of Marquette, La Salle, 

 Uliola, De Leon, Hunepin, Lewis and 

 Clark and many other works on Ameri- 

 can Discoveries, Politics, Conspiracies, 

 and Governmental affairs. 



There are also many complete files 

 of periodicals, such as, the Monthly 

 Review (1669 to 1894), Popular 

 Science Monthly, Harper s Monthly, 

 The Spectator, Spirit of the limes, 

 The Junius Letters, Quarterly Regist- 

 er, Niles' Weekly Register, London 

 Satirist, Anierica)i Journal of Nnm- 

 isviaticSy Canadian' A Jttiquarian, Col- 

 lectors Journal, Numisviatics Chron- 

 icle (1838-89) and a bound volume of 

 the Weekly Museum, published in 

 New York city, 1803 to 1806, (Where 



the name applies I am unable to see as 

 the paper is full -of society news and 

 gossip, romantic stories and comic 

 poems). 



The collection of autographs is very 

 interesting and contains autographic 

 letters of every President of the U. S. , 

 every signer of the Declaration of In- 

 dependence, crowned heads of Europe, 

 all the great poets, authors, historians, 

 explorers, actors, etc. , etc. 



The collection of U. S. coins is the 

 third in size in this country and con- 

 tains about 1300 coins and patterns. 

 Among the coins worthy of mention 

 are two "Stellas" or $4. gold pieces 

 (1879), New England, oak and pine 

 tree shilling, 6d, 3d and 2d; Massa- 

 chussetts cent (1787), half cent (1787- 

 88), Lord Baltimore shilling and 6d 

 (1659), Baltimore townpence (1790); 

 Connecticut cent (1788); Rose Ameri- 

 cana 2d, id and ^d (1723) and farth- 

 ing and ^d (1722); Louisiana Sow 

 (1721), cent (1722), farthing (1758); 

 Wood's \di and farthing (1723); Chal- 

 mer's Annapolis shilling, 6d and 3d 

 (1783); Washington cents (1783-89-91- 

 92-93); Washington half dollar (1776- 

 92-96); Mind your own business Con- 

 tinental currency; Washington dime 

 (1792), Martha Washington \ dime 

 (1792) and many other rare and more 

 valuable American coins. 



The most valuable American coins 

 in the collection are an 1804 silver dol- 

 lar, (worth $1,000) and an 1827 ([uarter 

 dollar (worth $400.) 



The collection of ancient coins is the 

 most complete in America and con- 

 sists of a collection of 400 Greek silver 

 and copper coins dating back as far as 

 700 B. C. , 1500 Roman silver and 

 copper coins dating as far back as A. 



