The Oskaloosa herald., 1906-05-24
PENN WINS DEBATE. COLLECTION IS SOLD.
State Normal School Secures DR..
Hoffman's Curios.


Dr. D. A. Hoffman has sold his
splendid collection of minerals and
curios to the State Normal School.
through President H. H. Seerley OF
that institution, and the big collec-
tion which represents years of unre-
mitting search upon the part of the
pioneer physician, will be taken to
the state Normal school, there to be
known as the Hoffman collection. =
Having completed arrangements
with DR.. Hoffman for the purchase of
the collection, President Seerley ar
rived yesterday to superintend the
packing. He is accompanied by Prof.
F. M. Airey of the normal, and by
G. F. Schweiher, a student-stenogra-
pher from the school, to whom DR..
Hoffman dictates such history as he
may remember associating each ar
ticle.
1t was with deep regret that DR.,
Hoffman sold the collection, even to
the state for its school 1t is the
work of years and years of intelligent
search and DIR. Hoffman's interest in
it was almost that Of a father. The
sale didn't lessen his enthusiasm as a
collector one particle, however. II
will be sending more of them to you, =
he declared to President Seerley yes
terday as they were packing UP the
old treasures.
The sale of the collection is the out
growth Of years Of friendship between
the two men. Thirty-tnree years ago
when Professor Seerley came to Os.
kaloosa, DR.. Hoffman, almost upon
his arrival, asked him to come in and
see his collection. Inspired by it,
Professor Seerley attempted a collec-
ton for the High school in Oska-
loosa, In his search for mineral
specimens in asking miners in nearby
towns to save him specimens he met
with one reply: 81 am saving those
Things for DR.. D. A. Hoffman"
President Seerley is very glad to
have been able to secure the collec-
ton. 1t was one of the finest col
lections in the state, if not the finest,
and in its relation to Iowa, apart
from it's other interests, it was of ex.
ceptional value DR.. Hoffman, as an
Iowa man, has secured great portion
of his specimens from this state
many Of them, indeed, from this very
county-and Cedar Falls is IAN Iowa
school for Iowa teachers" ."
'It is more than an exceptional col
lection" said President Seerley yes
terday. THE collection of Iowa coal
measures is the finest have ever
seen. Other museums may have bet
ter specimens of coal measures but
none have so good collection as this
of the measures of Iowa. The col
lection of arrowheads and of hammers
and hatchets of the stone age is also
a splendid one. l have seen but two
better collections outside the Smith
sonian at Washington. These two
are: One at Davenport in the Acad'
emy of Science, and one at Madison,
Wisconsin"
Especially is Professor Seerley very
glad to have secured the collections
which he mentioned. The other de-
partments of the collection, of course,
are of deep interest and in many cas-.
es of great value, but the value is
often because of relation to local his
tory or to local associations of other
sorts. There are geological and other
specimens from almost every state in
the union, which have been gathered
together by DR.. Hoffman. Those are
not as a rule, however, so great in
value as the local collections.
Scores of articles in the collection
are little treasures relating closely to
the history and the growth of the in
FAINT Oskaloosa or pioneer Mahaska
county. One of these is the ballot
box in which the first political vote
ever taken in this county was cast