Charles Chauncey Mellor. 



501 



most establishments of its kind in existence, which did not receive- 

 the benefit of his attention and of his wise counsels. His tastes 

 and accomplishments peculiarly fitted him for the work into which 

 he threw himself. The great organ in the main auditorium of the 

 building was erected under his advice and oversight. Every detail 

 of the great and growing work of the Museum received his atten- 

 tion. Mr. Mellor opened the first set of books, began the first 

 Catalog of Accessions, and for the first eighteen months of the ex- 

 istence of the Museum its affairs were almost wholly in his hands, 

 assisted by one or two of his friends, who like himself foresaw the 

 splendid possibilities of this department of activity. Now that the 

 Carnegie Museum has come to be recognized as one of the most 

 important institutions of its kind in America, and its reputation as 

 a center of scientific research and instruction has gone throughout 

 the world, it is due to the memory of Charles Chauncey Mellor to 

 bear testimony to the patient assiduity and the wise foresight with 

 which he kept watch over its affairs in the beginning. 



Later when Mr. Carnegie established his foundation intended to 

 recognize heroism in the humbler walks of life and to provide re- 

 lief for those, who, while doing good, have suffered through no fault 

 of their own, Mr. Carnegie appointed Mr. Mellor one of the trus- 

 tees of this fund, and to this cause he also brought his wisdom and 

 his experience. He continued to serve as one of the trustees of 

 the Hero Fund Commission, until he felt that with the growing 

 burden of years it was but right for him to resign. 



During the last five or six years of Mr. Mellor's life he suffered 

 more or less from an affection of the throat, which led him to seek 

 during the winter months a home in a more equable climate, and 

 he built for himself at Daytona in Florida a pleasant house, in 

 which he passed several winters with pleasure to himself, returning 

 in the springtime apparently greatly benefited by the change. In 

 the early summer of the year 1908 he was seized with an illness 

 necessitating a surgical operation, from which he to some extent 

 rallied. His friends hoped that he might ultimately recover and 

 be spared to those who loved him. But it was ordained otherwise. 

 An acute attack of pneumonia supervened, and in his prostrate 

 condition proved quickly fatal. His long and useful life termi- 

 nated on April 2, 1909. 



