4 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1890. 



corporate existence. His relation to it was very similar to that held 

 by Sir Henry Cole to the great national establishment at South Ken- 

 sington in England, so well described in the volumes entitled "Fifty 

 Years of Public Work," and recently published by his son, Mr. Alan 

 Cole. 



Upon the firm foundation which he laid, his successors are endeav- 

 oring to build a superstructure, harmonious in plan, but, it may be, 

 different in proportions and even in material. Their policy is not to 

 work as he did, under circumstances different from those which now 

 exist, but to work as he would have done under these changed circum- 

 stances. 



EARLY HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM. 



The idea of a national museum in the city of Washington was first 

 suggested by the Hon. Joel Roberts Poinsett, of South Carolina, Sec- 

 retary of War under President Van Buren, who in 1840 organized, for 

 the purpose of establishing such a museum, a society called "The Na- 

 tional Institution," afterwards "The National Institute," which was 

 exceedingly prosperous aud active for four years. By this Society the 

 nucleus for a national museum was gathered in the Patent Office build- 

 ing in Washington, and public opinion was educated to consider the 

 establishment of such an institution worthy of the attention of the Gov- 

 ernment of the United States. In 1846, having failed in securing the 

 public recognition at which it aimed, and the Smithsonian Institution 

 being by its charter entitled to take possession of the extensive Gov- 

 ernment collections already assembled in its charge, the society became 

 torpid, and eventually, in 1861, passed out of existence. 



From 1844 to 1858, when the so-called "National Cabinet of Curiosi- 

 ties" passed into the charge of the Smithsonian Institution, the term 

 "National Museum " was in disuse. From that time onward, however, 

 it was used, unofficially, to designate the collections in the Smith- 

 sonian building. 



After the "National Cabinet" was delivered to the Regents, appro- 

 priations were made by Congress for its maintenance. During the 

 twenty-threeyears which followed, the collections were greatly increased 

 and were made the subjects of numerous important memoirs upon the 

 natural history aud ethnology of America. The public halls, with their 

 arrangements for the exhibition of a portion of the collection, also re- 

 ceived a due share of attention, and a certain amount of instruction and 

 pleasure was afforded to visitors. The appropriations, however, were 

 meagre, the space limited, and the staff was so inadequate that little 

 could be done except to keep the collections in good preservation. 



The exhibition of 1876 in Philadelphia was an event of great educa- 

 tional importance to the people of the United States; and not the least 

 of its benefits were the lessons it taught as to the possibilities for good 

 in public museums. The objects which at the close of the Centennial 



