52 
THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
March i, 1847, when the following resolution was agreed to by 
the Board: 
“ Resolved , That it being understood that Mr. George Catlin 
is about to return to this country with his collection of Indian 
paintings, &c., he be requested to deposit the same in one of 
the galleries of the Smithsonian Institution, as soon as the 
building shall be ready for its reception, provided he will do so 
without charge to the institution; and that upon such deposit 
being made, said institution will properly arrange and prepare 
said collection for exhibition.” 
It may be noted that the purchase of this collection for the 
Institution was also under consideration by Congress at the 
same time, and the following extract from the official records 
of the Senate for February 27, 1847, is especially interesting 
to quote in this connection: 
“Mr. Clayton stated that this was probably the last oppor- 
tunity which would be offered for obtaining this gallery of 
paintings perpetuating the lineaments of these aborigines. 
He would not now go into the merits of these paintings. They 
had been seen by all the Senators. At the last session memo- 
rials had been presented from the principal artists praying that 
they might be purchased by the Government, and this was the 
last opportunity. They were about six hundred in number and 
were now at the Louvre, in Paris, where they met with un- 
qualified approbation. It was provided by his amendment 
that they were not to be purchased unless the Smithsonian 
Institution would find a place for them in their gallery, which 
he understood would probably be done. They might, perhaps, 
be purchased for about $50,000, of which it was proposed to 
pay $5,000 annually.” 
The Catlin collection was exhibited in London and Paris, as 
well as in this country. Begun in 1829, it finally numbered 
over 600 pictures, including portraits, landscapes, sporting 
scenes, and illustrations of amusements, customs and religious 
ceremonies. In 1852, through liberal advances made to Mr. 
Catlin, to satisfy claims growing out of unfortunate specula- 
tions, the collection came into the possession of Mr. Joseph 
Harrison, jr., of Philadelphia, by whose widow it was presented 
to the U. S. National Museum, May 15, 1879. Upon reaching 
