'J2 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



blasts of heat, and the falling walls the majority of the more valu- 

 able articles yet untouched by the fire were carried to safety. 



The ethnological exhibits consisted principally of three large col- 

 lections; one made by Lewis H. Morgan before 1854 and embracing 

 some 200 objects, the Harriet Maxwell Converse collection of about 

 350 specimens, and the collection made by the present Archeologist, 

 embracing, nearly 200 rare objects, exclusive of silver ornaments. 

 The famous Morgan collection of old Iroquois textiles and decorated 

 fabrics went up in the first blast of flame, and the cases were burned 

 to their bases. Fortunately about 50 Morgan specimens were in the 

 oflice of the Archeologist for study purposes, and were thus pre- 

 served. The Converse collection of silver articles was rescued intact, 

 though nearly a hundred other brooches and one large medal were 

 lost. Many of the less inflammable objects were rescued during the 

 fire and carried out of the danger zone. None of the wampum belts 

 of the Six Nations was injured. 



One of the odd features of the calamity was that hardly a single 

 object connected with the ceremonies of the Iroquois totemic cults 

 or the religious rites was injured. The hair of the thirty medicine 

 masks that hung in a line across the westernmost cases was not even 

 singed. 



Of the 10,000 articles on exhibition, including about 3500 flints, 

 only 512 have been identified by their catalog numbers. One thou- 

 sand other articles, more or less impaired by the action of fire and 

 water, will entail a great deal of work to identify. 



It is a curious fact that catalog numbers applied directly to the 

 surface of the stone, bone or clay specimens with waterproof ink, 

 withstood the action of fire and water better than the numbers 

 painted on white varnish or on paper labels. Even when the object 

 had been considerably heated the ink number on the surface was still 

 legible. Paper labels proved valueless, especially those with type- 

 written numbers. Those with numbers written in waterproof ink 

 came through better."^ 



A conflagration of the magnitude of the Capitol fire is not without 

 its lesson. Its occurrence but adds weight to the oft repeated 

 observation that no building is fireproof when it contains inflam- 

 mable material. Such material, if in sufficient quantity, once burn- 

 ing, will ruin fire proofing material and expose new channels for the 

 sweeping tongues of flame. The heat will crack walls, crumble stone 



^American Anthropologist, January-March, lyii. 



