FORTY-NINTH CONGRESS, 1885-1887. 1011 



August 5, 1886 — House. 



Passed. 



August 5, 1886. 



Joint resolution. 



Whereas Julia Dent Grant and William H. Vanderbilt, by deed of 

 trust executed on the 10th day of Januarj^, 1885, presented to the 

 United States (;ertain swords, medals, paintings, bronzes, portraits, 

 commissions, and addresses, and objects of value and art presented by 

 various Governments in the world to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant as tokens 

 of their high appreciation of his illustrious character as a soldier and 

 a statesman: Therefore, 



Resolved^ etc.. That the United States accept, with grateful acknowl- 

 edgments, the said property and articles, more fully described in the 

 schedule attached to said deed of trust, to be held by the United States 

 and preserved and protected in the city of Washington for the use and 

 inspection of the people of the United States. 



Sec. 2. That the said property and articles be placed under the cus- 

 tody of the Director of the National Museum; and he is hereby 

 directed to receive the same for safe-keeping therein. 



(Stat. XXIV, 318.) 



NATIONAL MUSEUM — GOVERNMENT COLLECTIONS. 



March 2. 1886. 



March 2, 1886. 

 Prof. S. F. Baird, 



Secretary Smithsonian Institution. 



Dear Sir: I respectfully present the following statements, in reply 

 to the letter of the chief clerk of the Department of the Interior, of 

 Februar}^ 26, in relation to the National Museum and Government 

 collections, etc. : 



Congress by act of May 11, 1836 (Stat. V, 29) appropriated 1150,000 

 for a surveying and exploring expedition to the Pacific Ocean and 

 south seas. This is known as the Wilkes Exploring Expedition. 



Ma}^ 15, 1810, the National Institution was organized with Hon. 

 J. R. Poinsett, Secretary of War, and Hon. James K. Paulding, Sec- 

 retaiy of the Navy, as directors. 



By act of March 3, 1814, $5,000 were appropriated to defray tne 

 expense of transporting to Washington and arranging and preserv- 

 ing the collections made bj^ the exploring expedition. (Stat. V, 120.) 



By direction of the Secretary of the Navy, these collections were 

 placed in the care of the National Institution, March 15, 1811. and 

 deposited in the Patent Office, April, 1811. 



In June, 1811, the collection of Indian portraits and curiosities of 

 the War Department was deposited in the cabinet of the National 

 Institution by the Secretary of War. 



