b THE GEOEGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



thought the National Museum was the proper place for its deposit, 

 the city of Philadelphia having declined it. May 15, 1879, Mr. 

 Thaddeus Norris, on behalf of Mrs. Harrison, advised Prof. S. F. 

 Baird of the gift to the nation. On the 19th of May, 1879, the collection 

 was taken possession of by Mr. Donaldson and removed to the Smith- 

 sonian Institution. A large number of fur- robes, dresses, and costumes 

 were badly injured by moths, fire, and water ; these were buried in 

 the yard of the Harrison Boiler Works, Philadelphia, where the picture 

 collection was found stored. Some four boxes of war clubs, iron and 

 bone instruments were saved and are now in the National Museum. 

 September 3, 1881, a second lot of the Catlin collection was discovered 

 in a building belonging to the Harrison estate on Merrick street, Phila- 

 delphia (near Fifteenth and Market). This was found to consist of the 

 large Grow lodge, or wigwam, described on page 50 of the catalogue 

 (see picture No. 491 herein), poles, &c, aud a great variety of clothing, 

 masks, some pipes, old moccasins, &c, which were fastened to the 

 original screens as placed by Mr. Catlin. Fire and water had much 

 damaged these. With this lot was also found Mr. Catlin's sketch-book, 

 some of his original notes of travel among the Indians, his palette, and 

 a portion of his correspondence with his family and friends, and also 

 the remnants of the lay figure collection. Six large cases held them, 

 and they were forwarded to Washington. These lay figures are de- 

 scribed in the text of the Catlin catalogue of 1848, and numbered 608 to 

 G25, and following. 



Mr. Catlin first offered his gallery to the Smithsonian institution in 

 1846; 35 years afterwards it found a permanent lodgment in the same 

 Institution after vicissitudes and misfortune hardly equaled. 



The Catlin Cartoon Collection, as given in the catalogue of Mr. Catlin, 

 dated New York, 1871, and now the property of the heirs of Mr. Catlin, 

 consists of copies of some of the original Catlin Gallery and Collection, 

 and the addition of a large number of North and South American In- 

 dian portraits and scenes, painted between the years 1848 and 1870, 

 the North American section consisting of 420 numbers, the Voyage of 

 Discovery by La Salle, of 27 numbers, or from 421 to 447, and the South 

 American portraits, being from Nos. 448 to 603, or 155 pictures ; in all, 

 a total of 603 pictures and portraits. The major portion of the Cartoon 

 Collection was prepared by Mr. Catlin in Brussels, Belgium, after 1852. 

 It was brought to New York by him and exhibited in October, 1871. 

 Later in 1871 he brought it to Washington where it was hung in the 

 Smithsonian Institution, from 1872 to 1875. It attracted much atten- 

 tion, and efforts were made to have Congress purchase it, but without 

 success. This Cartoon Collection contains no implements or objects for 

 illustration, having no museum attached. As before noted, it is now 

 the property and in charge of the heirs of Mr. Catlin, i. e., his three 

 daughters. A portion of it is stored in the Smithsonian Institution, and 

 another portion is now hanging in the Museum of Natural History, Cen- 

 tral Park, New York, all forming a most valuable and interesting series. 



