latest offer was not pursued. With essentially 
the same preamble, Oliver next approached the 
Field Museum of Natural History, but received 
no favorable reply.!!° 
Happy to Turn it Over 
As Oliver’s frustrated efforts began to resemble 
desperation, a promising inquiry arrived from 
the Pacific Northwest. Early in 1963, Oliver had 
spoken with a man named Lloyd S. Millegan, a 
retired public servant who lived in McMinnville, 
Oregon, and ran a small marquetry business, 
Lloyd’s of Oregon, in nearby Portland. Millegan 
envisioned mounting a display of the logs at the 
New York World’s Fair in 1964, then display- 
ing the collection in Portland to generate pub- 
licity and business for his handicrafts. Having 
been unsuccessful in finding another museum 
to accept the collection, Oliver explained that 
the museum was “eager” and “would be happy 
to turn it over to anyone who will undertake 
the cost of packing and transporting the entire 
collection from the museum to the new loca- 
tion.” He emphasized that “the entire collec- 
tion be taken in its entirety because we have 
no personnel to dispose of it properly piece- 
meal.”!!! When another group, coincidentally 
also in Portland, inquired about the collection 
later that year, Oliver asked Millegan to submit 
a formal offer indicating his intentions and to 
confirm that the collection would be removed 
by February 1964.!!2 
While Oliver awaited word from Millegan, 
he continued to entertain correspondence with 
Aldred A. Heckman, director of the Louis W. 
and Maud Hill Family Foundation in St. Paul, 
Minnesota. Through the common acquaintance 
of William Steere at the New York Botanical 
Garden, the Hill Family Foundation had been 
in discussions with the Gallery of Trees Com- 
mittee, a group of industry and civic leaders 
as well as forestry professionals, about assist- 
ing them in acquiring the Jesup Collection for 
their museum in Portland. Heckman explained, 
“There is real interest in having the Collection 
in Portland.” He emphasized that there was 
both local expertise available to prepare and 
interpret the proposed exhibit, as well as an 
audience already interested in trees and for- 
estry attending the existing forestry museum. 
Jesup Collection 43 
Further, the City of Portland and the Oregon 
Museum of Science and Industry had indicated 
willingness to participate in structuring the 
acquisition.!!* Steere himself wrote to Heck- 
man, “Naturally Iam deeply grateful to you for 
your personal interest in seeing that an exhibit 
of national importance is not reduced to veneer 
or small samples—or ashes.”!!4 
At an early meeting in January 1964, the Gal- 
lery of Trees Committee proceeded to address 
questions about transportation of the collection 
and the siting, design, and construction of a 
new building to house it. The Hill Family Foun- 
dation offered to defray the costs of transporting 
the collection to Portland, provided that it be 
publicly owned and exhibited. The City of Port- 
land’s Park Bureau and the Oregon Museum 
of Science and Industry were identified as the 
preferred partners.!!° Whether it had intended 
to or not, the meeting illustrated the contrast 
between the committee’s plans, for which the 
organizers could demonstrate institutional, 
technical, intellectual, and financial support, 
and those of Millegan, whose intentions had not 
addressed any of the real practicalities involved 
with adopting these specimens. 
Both the Gallery of Trees Committee and the 
Hill Family Foundation had been surprised to 
learn of Millegan’s prior claim, but their strong 
interest in obtaining the logs for Portland’s 
museum compelled them to include him in 
their discussions. Millegan was asked to explain 
his relationship to the collection. The meeting 
minutes recorded: “He asked for it not know- 
ing then what could be done with it. His offer 
was accepted.... [He] said he had no deed for the 
collection, merely a letter saying he could have 
it.”!!6 He was asked what conditions he would 
place on forfeiting his “claim” to the collection 
so that the committee could proceed. Millegan 
stipulated first that the collection should be 
freely accessible and well presented; beyond 
that, he wanted to use the exhibit to educate 
visitors about marquetry and its use of various 
woods, and to display his marquetry products 
alongside the exhibit.!!’ At this time, Heck- 
man indicated to Oliver that there would be no 
further discussion among the foundation and 
the entities in Portland until Millegan’s posi- 
tion was clarified. He concluded, “It seemed 
