REPORT UPON THE COLLECTIONS EXHIBITED AT THE 

 COLUMBIAN HISTORICAL EXHIBITION AT MADRID. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



The Exposicion Historico- American a at Madrid was planned by the 

 Government of that country to display the character of the civilization 

 of Europe in the centuries immediately succeeding the discovery of 

 America; and also to represent the condition of culture which was 

 found on the continent of America by the first explorers. 



The first of these was exhibited by a large collection of objects from 

 various countries of Europe, especially from Spain itself, these objects 

 being of a class which would show the progress of the arts and 

 sciences in the century following 1492, and in a general manner the 

 genius of that civilization which was introduced into the New World 

 in that period. It included many thousand specimens of secular and 

 ecclesiastical articles drawn from the rich stores of the museums and 

 public and private collections of Europe. 



Leaving for the present this portion of the Exposition, I will describe 

 more especially that section of it which illustrated the culture of the 

 native tribes of America at the time they first came in contact with 

 the European invaders, and from that date until about the year 1750. 



This portion of the Exposition was arranged originally on a geo 

 graphical plan, the objects forwarded by each government in America 

 being separately arranged; but in some instances, numerous specimens 

 from various localities which had come into the possession of some 

 museum were displayed together. This fact required that the study 

 of any one culture in the American continent should be conducted by 

 visiting several departments of the museum. Indeed, a certain number 

 of objects distinctively American were exhibited on the upper floor, 

 which was theoretically reserved for European displays exclusively. 

 This was the case with some of those rare and valuable manuscripts, 

 the composition of native American scribes, which have been preserved 

 by accident to our own times. 



The arrangement under each country was left entirely in the hands 

 of the representatives of that country, and consequently there was no 

 uniform system observed m the display of the objects. Moreover, in 

 some instances, the collection forwarded by a given country consisted 



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