TJic Genesis of the United States National Museum. 123 



I shall be happy to receive the suggestions of the committee as to the proper course 

 of proceeding. 



I am, respectfull)-, your obedient servant, 



A. P. Upshur. 

 Garrett R. Barry, Esq., 



Recording Secretary National Institute, WasJiington . 



Ill the ineaiitime a change in the status of the Government collections 

 had been effected by the passage of an act of Congress, August 27, 1842, 

 providing for the publication, under the supervision of the Joint Library 

 Committee, of an account of the discovery made by the exploring expe- 

 dition, the third section of which was as follows : 



That until other provisions be made by law for the safe-keeping and arrangement 

 of such objects of natural history as may be in the possession of the Government, 

 the same shall be deposited and arranged in the upper room of the Patent Office, 

 under the care of such persons as may be appointed by the Joint Committee of the 

 Library. 



By act of August 4, 1842 (Stat. V., 501), the sum of $20,000 had 

 already been appropriated for the transportation, preservation, and 

 arrangement of these collections. 



In the charter of the National Institute, passed a month Ijefore, there 

 was a provision that all trusts ' ' are vested and confirmed to the said 

 corporation,'' and the supporters of the Institute were disposed to urge 

 that this was applicable to the collections of the "exploring squadron," 

 at that time in the custody of the Institution. The question did not 

 come up in a troublesome way at this time, for the Library Committee, 

 at that time unfriendly, simply confirmed the choice of curator made by 

 the National Institute, and appointed Doctor Pickering to the position, 

 Doctor Pickering being thenceforth subject to the Congressional com- 

 mittee, and only by courtesy acting for the National Institute. 



Trouble was brewing, however, for it was evident that the links bind- 

 ing together the interests of the National Institute and the exploring 

 expedition were not very tenacious. There was in fact no legal authority 

 for the agency of supervision which the Institution was now exercising, 

 the whole being the outgrowth of a very informal understanding be- 

 tween two or three successive Secretaries of the Navy and a committee 

 of the Institution ' ' appointed to correspond with the Departments of 

 Government." ' 



This committee, composed of two of the most active directors and the 

 corresponding secretary, soon began to perform the functions of a gen- 

 eral executive committee — no doubt with the sanction of the society, but 

 without direct authority. 



The recent acts of Congress had taken the control of the collections 

 away from the Navy Department, by whose act alone they had been placed 

 in charge of the Institute. The committee of the Institute still beHeved 

 itself responsible in an advisory way for the disbursement of the appro- 



' Proceedings of the National Institution, 2d Bull., p. 71. 



