FORTY-NINTH CONGRESS, 1885-1887. 1QH 



Augusts, 1886 House. 



Passed. 

 Augusts, 1886. 



Joint resolution. 



Whereas Julia Dent Grant and William H. Vanderbilt, by deed of 

 rust executed on the 10th' day of January, 1885, presented to the 

 United States certain swords, medals, paintings, bronzes, portraits 

 commissions, and addresses, and objects of value and art printed W 

 various Governments in the world to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant as tokens 

 of their high appreciation of his illustrious character as a soldier and 

 a statesman : Therefore, 



Resolved, etc., That the United States accept, with grateful acknowl- 

 edgments, the said property and articles, more fully described in the 

 schedule attached to said deed of trust, to be held by the United States 

 and preserved and protected in the city of Washington for the use and 

 inspection of the people of the United States. 



SEC. 2. That the said property and articles be placed under the cus- 

 tody of the Director of the National Museum; and he is hereby 

 directed to receive the same for safe-keeping therein 

 (Stat. XXIV, 348.) 



NATIONAL MUSEUM GOVERNMENT COLLECTIONS. 

 March 2, 1886. 



March 2, 1886. 

 Prof. S. F. BAIRD, 



Secretary Smithsonian Institution. 



DEAR SIR: I respectfully present the following statements, in reply 

 to the letter of the chief clerk of the Department of the Interior, of 

 February 26, in relation to the National Museum and Government 

 collections, etc. : 



Congress by act of May 14, 1836 (Stat. V, 29) appropriated $150,000 

 for a surveying and exploring expedition to the Pacific Ocean and 

 south seas. This is known as the Wilkes Exploring Expedition. 



May 15, 1840, the National Institution was organized with Hon. 

 J. R. Poinsett, Secretary of War, and Hon. James K. Paulding, Sec- 

 retary of the Navy, as directors. 



By act of March 3, 1844, $5,000 were appropriated to defray tne 

 expense of transporting to Washington and arranging and preserv- 

 ing the collections made by the exploring expedition. (Stat. V, 420.) 



By direction of the Secretary of the Navy, these collections were 

 placed in the care of the National Institution, March 15, 1841, and 

 deposited in the Patent Office, April, 1841. 



In June, 1841, the collection of Indian portraits and curiosities of 

 the War Department was deposited in the cabinet of the National 

 Institution by the Secretary of War. 



