10 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1891. 



PROPOSED ADDITIONAI. MUSEUM EUlLDINli. 



On January 9, 1891, the bill providing for a new Museum building- 

 was favorably reported from the House Coiuuiittee on Public Buildings 

 and Grounds, but failed of passage. 



CAST OP STATUE OF LIBERTY. 



Through the cooperation of the Architect of the Capitol, Hon. Ed- 

 ward Clark, the original full-size plaster model of Thomas Crawford's 

 statue of liberty was transferred from the crypt in the Capitol to the 

 Museum. The bronze was cast by Clark Mills, at his foundry, near 

 Bladensburg, Md., in 1860, and is 19 feet 5 inches in heiglit. This 

 model had been stored in a cellar room of the Capitol, and had unfor- 

 tunately been broken into fragmeuts, when the work of transferring it 

 to the Museum was undertaken by Theodore A. Mills, an employe of 

 the jMusenm.* 



THE DAOUERRE MEMORIAL. 



On August 15, 1890, a bronze statute of Daguerre was unveiled in 

 the rotunda of the National Museum building, by the Secretary of the 

 Interior. This monumeut, in honor of Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre, 

 was presented by the Photographers' Association of America, which 

 was holding its annual meeting in Washington at that time. Daguerre, 

 in cooperation with Joseph Nic6phore Niepce, invented and perfected 

 the daguerreotype, the announcement of which was made at the session 

 of the French Academy of Sciences, in 1839. The monument is 11 

 feet in heiglit, and is made of bronze and granite. It represeiits Fame 

 fastening a garland around the head of Daguerre. The garland also 

 encircles the globe, thus typifying the universal benefit of his inven- 

 tion. The monumeut is tlie work of Jonathan Scott Hartley. 



THE OAPRON COLLECTION. 



This collection, consisting of gold lacquers, bronzes, porcelains, carv- 

 ings in ivory and wood, and many other works of art, was obtained by 

 the late Gen. Horace Capron while United States minister to Japan. A 

 bill for its purchase was introduced into the Senate on March 1, 1888 (Fif- 

 tieth Congress, first session), by Senator Daniel W. Yoorhees, and passed 

 the Senate on March 31. On August 8 of the same year Mr, O'Neill, of 



* The following order, issued by Hon. ,Jolin B. Floyd, Seeret.Try of War, May 24, 

 1860, may be of interest in this connection : 



"The proj^osed statue of Freedom, modeled by Crawford, for the dome of the 

 Capitol, will be cast by Clark Mills at his foundry near Bladensburg vxnder the di- 

 rection of Capt. William B. Franklin of the Topographical Engineers in charge of 

 the Capitol Extension. Mr. Mills will be pai<lfor his services and for the rent of his 

 foundry at tiie rate of $400 per montli from the commencement to the termination of 

 the work. The materials, fuel, labor, and everything necessary for the casting of 

 the figure will be supi)lied by the (xovennneut." 



