The Genesis of the United States National Museum. t 39 



Levi Woodbury, Peter Force, Colonel J. J. Abert, Colonel J. G. Totten, 

 and Lieutenant M. F. Maury, Rufus Choate, Abbott Lawrence, and 

 A. D, Baclie. Our Government functions were less centralized at that 

 time, and the policy of allowing more scope to private effort in pul)lic 

 matters was similar in this instance at least to that which prevails in 

 Great Britain at the present time. It was not to have been expected, 

 however, that its authority should have remained long unquestioned, 

 and in the end its lot was that which very frequently befalls those who 

 out of disinterestedness undertake, unasked, to forward the interest of 

 others. Thus, as Rush aptly put it, the merit of the Institute was 

 turned to its misfortune, and its "voluntary zeal" was thought totally 

 unworthy of recognition. 



The various invitations to members of Congress, army and navy 

 officers, consuls, and citizens to collect and send in materials had, how- 

 ever, begun to bring in great quantities of material, and the inability 

 to care for these properly was the cause of the appeals for Government 

 aid, which, as time went on, grew more frequent and urgent till 1846, 

 when discouragement took the place of anticipation, and the society 

 fell into a condition of inactivity and apathy. 



The real cause of the decline of the National Institute was simple 

 enough. Failing to secure grants of money from Congress, the society 

 was overwhelmed by the deluge of museum materials which, in response 

 to its enthusiastic and widely circulated appeals, came to it from all 

 quarters of the world. The annual receipts from the assessment of 

 members were insufficient to pay for the care of the collections, and 

 although by virtue of the long term of its charter the collections were 

 kept together until 1861, there was little science and little energy mani- 

 fested in this administration. 



In the archives of the National Mu.seuni there are a number of unpub- 

 lished papers which are of value as constituting a partial history of the 

 collections during this period, and some of which appear to be worthy 

 of permanent preservation are here presented. 



One of them possesses a melancholy interest of its own. It is a list 

 of the active members of the National Institute in arrears for dues up 

 to December 12, 1843. The delinquents were 168 in number, including 

 nearly one-half of the names on the membership roll, and the total 

 arrearage amounted to $1,300. No wonder that the managers were 

 discouraged, for this sum represented a like deficit in the assets of the 

 society, its only income being derived from membership fees. 



From this time on, as we have already seen, the society languished. 

 In 1848 its cabinet was almost the only evidence of its existence. At 

 that time, however, an effort was made to resuscitate it, which seems 

 to have been partially successful. The coming in of a new Adminis- 

 tration was in some degree beneficial, the President, Taylor, having 



