30 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1912. 



A British military uniform vest of crimson cloth, a silk embroid- 

 ered vest and belt of the colonial period, and a brass gorget bearing 

 the British coat of arms, worn by Adam Stephen, major general of 

 the Continental Army, when lieutenant colonel in the British colonial 

 forces during the French and Indian War, 1755-1763, were received 

 by transfer from the Library of Congress; and two series of medals 

 representing the various types of badges, ribbons, bars, and pins 

 awarded by the United States Government for efficiency while in the 

 service, one for the Army, the other for the Navy and Marine Corps, 

 were deposited by the Departments of War and of the Navy, re- 

 spectively. 



Among the donations of paintings were several of historical inter- 

 est and value. From the municipality of Saint-Die-des-Vosges, 

 France, were received portraits in oil of Mathias Ringmann, Martin 

 Waldseemuller, and Vautrin Lud, that of the first named being by 

 P. Descelles, the other two by R. Duvernon. Their presentation, 

 which was made to the United States Government through the 

 American ambassador to France, Mr. Robert Bacon, was one of the 

 events connected with a celebration at Saint-Die on July 15 and 16, 

 1911, commemorative of the naming of America. These three geog- 

 raphers, belonging to the Gymnasium Vosagense, were editors of 

 La Cosmographiae Introductio, in which publication, printed at 

 Saint-Die April 25, 1507, appeared the first designation of the new 

 continent in honor of Amerigo Vespucci, the prior discovery by 

 Columbus not having become known to these men. The name was 

 subsequently used on the chart edited at Saint-Die in 1508 and en- 

 graved by Waldseemuller. The celebration took place on the four 

 hundredth anniversary of the death of Ringmann, which occurred in 

 1511. Accompanying the paintings were four photographs, entitled 

 La Fete du Bapteme de I'Amerique, Salon du Craduel et de la Cos- 

 mogi'aphiae Introductio, Vue generale de Saint-Die, and Le Cloitre 

 de Saint-Die. 



To the Swedish American Republican League of Illinois the Mu- 

 seum is indebted for two oil paintings, one a portrait of John 

 Ericsson, by Arvid Nyholm, the other entitled Combat between the 

 Monitor and the Merrimac, by Henry Reuterdahl, which were exe- 

 cuted in commemoration of the memorable engagement in Hampton 

 Roads, March 9, 1862. The presentation was made at the Smith- 

 sonian Institution on March 23, 1912, in the presence of a delegation 

 from the league, by Mr. Henry S. Henschen, acting consul of Swe- 

 den at Chicago, who asked the acceptance of the paintings as coming 

 from the Swedish Americans of Illinois as a tribute of respect and 

 affection for the memory of John Ericsson. A brief address of 

 acknowledgment and appreciation was made by the Secretary of the 

 Institution. 



