Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-06
THE N ATIONAL MUSEUM
HOW THE INSTITUTION WAS
BROUGHT INTO EXISTENCE.
In the New Building There Will Be
Many Exhibits That Have Been
Stored Away.

In March, 1903. Congress appropriated the
sum of $35OO,OO0 for the erection Of a new
National Museum building, 1t being a fact
we'll known to Washingtonians that now
and for some time past, a considerable Dor.
ton of the 5,OOOOOO specimens, both great
and small, owned by the National Museum
have remained in storage for lack Of ex-
hlbition space. AS soon, therefore, as the
appropriation had been granted plans were
prepared, and, on June TO- 1904, ground
was broken for the formation of the new
building, which, when completed will cover
more ground space than any structure In
Washington. with the exception of tho
Capitol, the plans calling for an edifice $50
feet in length by 800 feet in width. Part of
the new structure will stand Immediately
over what once a portion of the old
Chesapeake and Ohio canal, which formerlv
ran directly through the heart of Washing.
ton, but now terminates at Georgetown the
section that formerly traversed the capital
having been hlled up after the civil war.
Interesting History.
The erection of the new National Museum
building calls to mind the interesting hiss
tory of that institution, concerning which
very little is known. 1t appears that late
In the thirties Commodore Elliott, COM
handing the Mediterranean squadron, who
was a SfSdl anu auHlTeT OF FTeSluGnk
Andrew Jackson, brought to this country
from Beirut, Syria, an ancient marble sar.
cophagus, handsomely sculptured that had
once contained the remains of some Phoen-
lclan King or grandee, possibly no less a
person than the immortal Hyrum himself.
Inc art is Phoenician. Influenced by Creek.
ana, contrary to the statement contained In
Mrs John A. Logan's Thirty Years in
Washington" the sarcophagus did not come
from the ruins of Carthage, nor did It once
contain the remains of a Roman general.
captain or colonial governor The story
runs that Commodore Elliott presented this
handsome sarcophagus ian enormous and
bulky affair to President Jackson. think-
ing, as Mrs Logan puts it, that the hero OF
New Orleans would ALLOW his remains to
be deposited in 1t after death" But with
true western patriotism and hatred of ALI
things savoring of Imperialism from banks
10 DurlalS, Old Hickory didn't fancy than
style of coffin and saw to it that after
death his bones were laid to rest In a main
home made coffin. under a tombstone 81
tennessee limestone.
AS result, the old Phoenictan aarconbo.
gus was deposited in the basement of tina
patent office, where 1t became the center
of what Mrs. Logan describes as "a small
and heterogeneous collection stored in a few
dusty cases.. This proved the bepinnin~
of the National Museum. The first addi-
non or consequence was a fine collection OF
Japanese bronzes and pottery brought to
this country by Commodore Perry From
the day these were received until the close
OF the Philadelphia centennial in 1875 the
increased very rapidly, necessi.
tating the erection of the present National
Museum building (Which stands to the east
of the Smithsonian Institution and covers
a space 300 feet long by 300 feet In width.
When New Building is Finished.
AS soon as the new museum building IN
completed the collections row on exhibit in
the Smithsonian Institution and what will
then be the old National Museum will bo
moved into the new structure The Smith.
sonfan will then be devoted to the exbibi.
ton of the fine arts. while the existing
National Museum building will be devoted
to the industrial arts. Perhaps the most
notable of the collections that have never
been on exhibit, and which will then adorn
the Smithsonian, is a wonderful accumu.
lation of portraits, oil paintings, etchinpr.
sketches, etc, of prominent Americana
from the revolutionary period to the pres.
ent. This collection contains over 100 Dor.
traits etchings, sketches, etc. of Benja.
min Franklin alone.
Smithson's private collection will also
be placed on exhibition while the National
Museum proper will then contain an in
teresting exhibit of canoes, ancient cam
mons, instruments which were once the
of early American scientists and.
more important still, the relics and per-
sonal belongings, camp outfits, etc, of the
first American expeditions, beginning with
hat of Lewis and Clark and ending with
hose of certain American expeditions to
he arctic, conducted since the civil war.