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THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
GAVEL used at the Convention at Cincinnati, Ohio, in June, 1856, at which 
Mr. Buchanan was nominated for the Presidency. 
BIBLE on which Mr. Buchanan took the oath of office as President of the 
United States, March 4, 1857. This bible belonged to Mrs. SalieS. 
Carroll, by whom it was presented to President Buchanan in a letter 
herewith reproduced. 
My dear Mr. Buchanan 
Having heard that a desire has been expressed by you or some member 
of your family to possess the copy of the Bible upon which was administered 
to you the oath of office as President of the U. States, & readily under- 
standing how it would be treasured by any of your family or friends, & the 
more so if presented by yourself, I cheerfully put aside my own appreciation 
of it as a memento of the occasion and of the kind consideration of my 
Husband in presenting it to me, and beg that you will do me the favor to 
accept it through the hands of a mutual friend to whom I have entrusted 
it for you. 
I remain very respectfully your friend, 
Sadie S. Carroll. 
Washington 7 Dec * 1839 . 
JOHN HAMPDEN, old Engraving of a portrait of, presented to President 
Buchanan by Mr. McGregor, M. P., for Glasgow. 
THE CHARLES L. FREER COLLECTION 
Under date of December 27, 1904, Mr. Charles L. Freer, of 
Detroit, Mich., transmitted to the Smithsonian Institution an 
offer to bequeath or make present conveyance of title to his 
extensive art collection to the Institution or the United States 
Government, under certain specified conditions, and to furnish 
the means for erecting, after his death, a suitable building to 
receive the collection, provided the Institution or the Govern- 
ment would undertake its maintenance. This communication 
was prefaced with the following explanation: 
These several collections include specimens of very widely separated 
periods of artistic development, beginning before the birth of Christ and 
ending to-day. No attempt has been made to secure specimens from 
unsympathetic sources, my collecting having been confined to American 
and Asiatic schools. My great desire has been to unite modern work with 
masterpieces of certain periods of high civilization harmonious in spiritual 
and physical suggestion, having the power to broaden esthetic culture and 
the grace to elevate the human mind. 
