Detroit Connoisseur Makes 
Public For First Time Terms | 
i 
of $1 Present. 
RECEIVES A BILL OF SALE 
Treasures in His Control Until 
He Dies—A Model Form For 
Bequests. 
NEW YORK, Dec. 6 .— “My pleasure, 
has been in discovery, not in posses- j 
sion.” said Charles Dang Freer, the. 
well-known Detroit connoisseur of art. j 
whose notable collection which he has; 
been thirty years in gathering from j 
the treasure troves of the world has 
been presented to the Smithsonian In¬ 
stitution at Washington for the pleas¬ 
ure and benefit of all the people. 
In making this admission Mr. Freer 
explained to a Sun man, who dropped 
into the Plaza Hotel to see him, that 
his gift was made by the simple process 
of a bill of sale to Uncle Sam for a 
nominal consideration by the terms of 
which the art objects will remain in 
his possession during his liftetime, al- : 
though actually the property of the i 
Government, but will pass automatical- j 
ly into the custody of the riatton upon’ 
his death, as announced In The Wash¬ 
ington Times some time ago. 
It is believed that Mr. Freer’s novel j 
method of giving his treasures to the! 
people will be a model for the benefac-, 
tions of other men who desire to pass - 
along art collections to the nation, the 
State or to the municipality without the 
possibility that their wishes might not 
he carried out in the distribution of 
their estates. 
Not only has Mr. Freer transferred 
to his fellow countrymen fully 5,000 art 
objects, the value of which runs up into 
the millions (Mr. Freer won't tell how 
many),!but be is now planning to erect 
for the Government as soon as possible 
a building in Washington in which to 
house the wonderful collection. Charles 
A. Platt is now working on the designs. 
Mr. Freer is not -ready as yet to make 
public (he details of the plans. It is! 
known, however, that the structure will! 
cost Sl-.OOO.OOO, and not $500,000 as re¬ 
ported in the papers a few days ago. 
Giving Not Easy Feat. 
In telling the story of making his gift 
to the . nation absolute by means of a 
sale for $1 consideration while he is 
alive. Mr. Freer pointed'out some of the 
difficulties that he experienced when 
he made up his mind to give. It wasn’t 
any easy matter at all. to turn over 
his collection to the nation, while still 
reserving- the right, to keep it in his 
possession in order that he might con¬ 
tinue having the pleasure of prosecutin':’ 
his work of discovering finer things and 
weeding'--out the less important, so that 
the collection at. the final inventory 
would be ’what he wanted it to he. 
When Mr. Freer originally offered in 
1W5 or 1906 to give his collection, then., 
containing 2,000 objects, to the Govern¬ 
ment, the governing board of the Smith-• 
somamlnstitution laid-.the,tender on. the 
table. Col. Theodore Roosevelt, then 
President, called for a report of the 
‘proceedings, and at once took steps for 
’(he remoVal of the obstructions. ile. i 
brought about a meeting between Mr. j 
, Freer and the late Chief Justice Mel- 
\ vllle W. Fuller, then chief of the Smifh- 
‘soman regents, and after the two men 
had got their heads together, a way was 
speedily found for the giving by a hill 
of sale that was acceptable to all 
parties. 
The TIMES December 7, 1915 
“When it came to finding a way to 
transfer title to the collection and still 
leave it in my charge.” Mr. Freer 
said, “a contract had to be entered into 
between the Government and myself. 
“The intent then was to give 2,000 
objects, keep them under my control 
while I lived, and add to the number 
and exchange in every possible in¬ 
stance where by so doing I would be 
able to improve the collection. 
‘A contract was drawn up by which 
I gave title to the collection with the 
right to keep possession of it during my 
lifetime and to add to or take away for 
the purpose of obtaining a higher qual¬ 
ity of art specimens. 
“The lawyers for both, sides agreed 
upon a form of contract and I offered 
the gift to the Government, agreeing to 
furnish the means for the erection after 
my death of a building to house and ex¬ 
hibit the collection and for no other pur¬ 
pose. The objects once in the building 
could never be removed except in the 
case of repairs to the building. After 
this was done the Government was to 
maintain the collection and special fa¬ 
cilities were to be given to students. 
Objects not on exhibition were always 
to be accessible to serious minded stu¬ 
dents. 
Tabled By the Regents. 
“In this form the gift was tendered to 
the Government and after they had con¬ 
sidered the gift the matter was placed 
"ion the table by the board of regents of 
the Smithsonian Institution. In that 
condition of affairs President Roosevelt 
asked to have the report read to him 
and when he fouTnd there had been ob¬ 
structions he took steps at once to re^ 
move them. He invited me to meet 
Chief Justice Fuller, who was at that ; 
time, the head of the board of regents 1 
of the institution. President Roosevelt ! 
brought us together and after we had 
discussed the matter the Chief Justice 
made it plain to me that under the pro¬ 
posed form of cohtract there was liable 
to be many difficulties after my death 
and prior to the erection of the building. 
“It didn't take us very many minutes , 
to make important changes in the con- J 
tract. We decided then that it would 
be advisable to weed out of the collec¬ 
tion at once objects that were not 
really of the finest esthetic quality. 
The suggestion was made, and I agreed 
to it. to transfer to the Government by 
actual sale for a nominal consideration, 
subject to certain conditions which were 
mutually agreed upon, the objects which 
might survive the rigid inspection of 
experts. 
“under these conditions I could add to 
the collection but could never take 
swav from it. The transfer of about 
2.260 art objects was then made by 
actual sale (not recently as stated a daV I 
or two ago by a New York newspaper), i 
Annually since then other acquisitions 
have been given to the Government, so 
that today the collection embraces over 
5,000 objects. This collection and the 
buildine which will house it will con¬ 
stitute an annex to the National Gallery 
of Art. 
“The collection will remain in mV 
possession until after the_ proposed 
building is completed, although it Is ’ 
now the property of the Government, 
and I have the right to loan any part 
of it that I may desire. There are now 
about twenty Whistlers and a dozen 
i Tryons belonging to the collection at 
the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San 
Francisco. I have frequently loaned ob¬ 
jects belonging to the collection to mu¬ 
seums. universities, and art associations 
m America and Europe. 
“My nlan noiv is to begin as soon as 
Possible the erection of a building at 
Washington for the housing of the col¬ 
lection. Charles A. -Platt, of New York, 
is designing- the structure. When the 
bmldma- is finished the collection wall 
be taken there and the Government will 
take charge in perpetuity.” 
