216 COLUMBIAN HISTORICAL EXPOSITION AT MADRID. 



Fortunately, however, as chief of the Latin -American department 

 of the Chicago Columbian Exposition, I had for two years been engaged 

 in collecting material for a historic exhibit there, with the inspiring 

 sympathy and cooperation of the late James G. Elaine, then Secretary 

 of State. The subject had for him more than ordinary interest, and he 

 gave me much valuable advice and assistance. 



The funds to meet the expense were furnished from the allotment of 

 the Department of State of the appropriation made by Congress for 

 the board of management and control of i he United States Govern 

 ment exhibit at Chicago, and the work was done under the direction 

 and subject to the approval of that body. Additional funds were fur 

 nished by the board of directors of the World s Columbian Exposition. 

 They provided the means for Mr. Frederick A. Ober, one of iny assist 

 ants, to follow the course of Columbus among the Bahama and the 

 West India Islands and visit all the scenes with which the great 

 discoverer was identified in America, and also for the survey and inves 

 tigation by the same gentleman of the ruins of the first three towns 

 established in the New World, where many relics of value and interest 

 were obtained. 



This collection, so far as it was completed or could be made avail 

 able, was hastily packed and shipped to Madrid, where it added some 

 thing to the importance of the United States exhibit and received 

 considerable attention, particularly from historical students and those 

 engaged in scientific study. 



It is a singular fact that, although the Exposition at Madrid was 

 intended to be exclusively historical, and to commemorate the discov 

 ery of America by Christopher Columbus by a nation whose greatest 

 glory is in his achievments, both the man and the event were practi 

 cally ignored by Spain, and all the other nations participating, with the 

 exception of the United States. The building was crowded with a 

 magnificent and remarkable display of articles illustrating the art, the 

 industry, the piety, the martial conquests, and the luxury of the reign of 

 Ferdinand and Isabella, the golden age of Spain. The archives of the 

 Government, the museums and libraries, the cathedrals, churches, and 

 monasteries, the public and private palaces of the Peninsula \vere 

 stripped of their treasures to form an exhibition that was never sur 

 passed in the extent and value of its historical features; but the only 

 articles contributed by Spain that related directly or indirectly to 

 Christopher Columbus were the following: 



(1) An autograph letter from Juan Colona, the notarial secretary 

 of Ferdinand and Isabella, to Friar Boil, the priest who accompanied 

 Columbus upon his second voyage. Exhibited by the Koyal Academy 

 of History. 



(2) A certified copy, made in 1545, of the will of Diego Colon, the 

 son of the discoverer, dated September 8, 1523, with a codicil dated 

 May, 1526. Exhibited by Don Ignacio de Alcazar Castaneda. 



