THI-^ GENESIS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 311 



1 shall be liai)i)y t<> receive the suggestions of the committee as to 

 the proper course of proceeding. 



I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, 



A. P. Upshur. 



Garnett E. Barry, Esq., 



Beeordinf/ iSecrctar)/ National Inniiiuie, Washiuf/ton. 



In the meantime a change in the status of the (rovernment collections 

 had been eliected by the passage of an act of Congress, August 26, 1842, 

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

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

 pedition, the third section of which was as follows: 



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

 arrangement of t:,uch objects of natural history as may be in the posses- 

 sion of Government, the same shall be deposited and arranged in the 

 upper room of the Patent Office, under the care of such i)crsons as may 

 be apiiointed by the Joint Connnittee of the Library. 



By act of August 4, 1842 (Stat, v., r)01), the sum of $20,000 had already 

 been appropriated for the transportation, preservation, and arrange- 

 ment of these collections. 



In the charter of the National Institute, passed a month before, 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 squad- 

 ron" 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 Com- 

 mittee, at that time unfriendl}^, simply confirmed the choice of curator 

 made by the National Institute, and appointed Dr. Pickering to the 

 position. Dr. Pickering being thenceforth subject to the Congressional 

 committee, 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 ot 

 (Tovernment."* 



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

 corresponding secretary, soon began to x)erform 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 believed 

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

 propriation, but soon f(mnd expeditions in i^rogress of which they had 

 no knowledge. The committee filed a protest with Mr. Poinsett, their 



* Proceedings i, 71. 



