ART GALLERY AND MUSEUM.

Since our last report, the art gallery and museum have undergone many changes, which we trust will be recognized as improvements. The rooms have been thoroughly renovated, painted and calcimined; numerous needed appliances have been made; and new methods of exhibiting pictures, specimens and curios have been introduced. We have always been much hampered in our present rooms, from lack of sufficient show cases, and much interesting material has been stored in ante-rooms since our removal hither seven years ago. The work of building new cases, designed to better accommodate our growing collections, is now in progress in the state carpenter shop; and doubtless many other articles long desired for the gallery will be placed there during the coming year. It is perhaps needless to remind the Society that its own state appropriation is quite insufficient for enterprises of this character. Governor Peck, however, has taken a kindly interest in the matter. He recognizes that exhibition halls which annually attract over thirty-five thousand visitors from all portions of the commonwealth, should be placed in a condition fit to receive them; and has consented to this renovation of a portion of the capitol which for various reasons was never fully prepared for the Society's occupancy. The Society also owes much to the generous and intelligent treatment which its many wishes in this matter have received at the hands of Hon. E. V. Briesen, the superintendent of public property, and his assistant, Capt. W. B. Vance.

Heretofore, we have had more properly a portrait gallery than an art gallery. The acquisition of the Tank pictures, the present year, has at last placed us, though modestly enough, upon the plane of an art gallery. It is sincerely to be hoped that this feature of our collections. will now make more rapid progress, and that other gifts or bequests of works of art may soon follow.

It must be confessed that we have in the past, absorbed in the great work-that can never end-of building up our library and of accumulating materials for our state history,

been comparatively neglectful of the gallery and museum. The renovation of these departments, now almost complete, is a reminder that we have here avenues of usefulness which are worthy of our most serious consideration. Of the upwards of thirty-five thousand visitors who throng the upper floor throughout each year, possibly not over a thousand have a thought for the library in the two stories beneath them. To the world, the library is by far the most valuable; it is a great workshop for scholars, and they are at the core of civilization; abroad, the Society's library and its original investigations, have alone given it prestige. The Society, however, can do excellent missionary work among the masses, by making its museum more attractive, and by having especial regard to its possibilities as a factor in public education. Our limited funds are now of necessity almost wholly absorbed in library work, and we should have still greater financial resources for that purpose. We lack a special fund for the better conduct of the gallery and museum. Our antiquarian fund, whenever it becomes income-producing, will accomplish much good here; but we need still more, and it would not be inappropriate, taking into consideration the great and growing popularity of these departments, to ask the legislature for a small special appropriation for the purpose. Five hundred dollars per year could be spent here to good advantage. The year's acquisitions have been as follows:

THE ART GALLERY.

Tank collection of miscellaneous oils, sepias, water-colors and steel engravings, sixty-three in number [See list thereof, ante, p. 40.] Bequeathed by Mrs. C. L. A. Tank, Ft. Howard.

Oil portrait, life-size, of Hon. Angus Cameron, of La Crosse. Painted by S. Leopold Landeau. Mr. Cameron was born in Caledonia, Livingston county, N. Y., July 4, 1826. He was admitted to the bar in his native state in 1853, but four years later came to Wisconsin, settling at La Crosse, which is still his home. He was a member of the state senate in 1863 and 1864, also in 1875 and 1882; member of the assembly, 1866 and 1867, and speaker in the latter year; one of the regents of the state university, 1866-75; elected to the senate of the United States in 1875, and re-elected in 1881.

Oil portrait, life size, of Col. John Gibson McMynn, of Madison. Painted

by Prof. James R. Stuart. Colonel McMynn was born at Palatine Ridge, Montgomery county, N. Y., July 9, 1824, graduating from Williams college (Williamstown, Mass.) in 1848. He came to Wisconsin the same year, settling first in Kenosha as a school teacher; then in Racine (1853), where he served as principal of the high school until the close of 1857. He went into the War of the Rebellion (1861), as major of the Tenth Wisconsin infantry, rising to a coloneley in 1863. In 1864-68, he was state superintendent of public instruction, and for fifteen years was a regent of the state university. As the organizer, and for many years the head, of the Racine academy, he established a wide reputation as an educator. Many of his old pupils are now prominent citizens of this state, and this portrait is presented by them to the gallery.

Crayon portrait, life-size, of Hon. Hiram H. Giles, of Madison. C. L. Burdick, artist. Mr. Giles was born at New Salem, Franklin county, Mass., March 22, 1820. He came to Wisconsin territory in 1814, and in 1817 settled at Dunkirk, Dane county, and later at Stoughton. In 1852 he was elected to the assembly; in 1855 and in 1857 to the state senate; in 1860 was appointed one of the trustees of the state insane hospital, and acted until he was appointed on the state board of charities and reform in 1870, which position he held until 1891.

Crayon portrait, life-size, of Gen. Thomas S. Allen, of Oshkosh. H. H. Robinson, artist. Gen. Allen was born in Allegheny county, N. Y., July 26, 1826. In 1847 he came to Wisconsin territory, engaging in lead-mining and surveying at Dodgeville. In 1857 be represented the Mineral Point district in the assembly. In the War of the Rebellion, he succeeded Amasa Cobb as colonel of the Fifth Wisconsin infantry (1863). His daring exploit in storming Marye's Hill at Fredericksburg, with the Fifth Wis. consin and the Sixth Maine, is described in Thwaites's Story of Wisconsin (pp. 302-304). After the war, now breveted brigadier-general, he served as secretary of state, and then removed to Oshkosh, where he has ever since been a newspaper publisher.

Mezzotint engraving of Lt. Col. B. Tarleton, an English officer in the Revolutionary war, from the painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds. A rare and costly print. From Dr. L. C. Draper.

Etching of St. Paul's cathedral, London.

Paris colored prints - Seven types of the British army; Gen. Boulanger; Staple's Inn, Holborn; Wych street, London. From Secretary Thwaites. Photographs, hand painted, of Holland peasants in costume. Steel engraved portrait of President John Johnston.

Cabinet photographs of Sioux Indians, noted Americans, antiquarian "finds," curiosities, etc., from Rev. C. D. Bradlee, of Boston; Dr. R. T. Miller, of South Bend, Ind.; C. G. Ermatinger, of Chippewa Falls; Dr. L. C. Draper, and Secretary Thwaites.

THE MUSEUM.

Antiquities, Natural History and Curios.

A large plaster model scale, 1:150, of the famous pueblo of Tegua, one of the seven Moqui villages in Arizona. These villages were, it is now generally supposed, the "seven cities" sought for by Coronado and other Spanish-American adventurers from Mexico, in the sixteenth century. The model is a fine one, being manufactured by Ward & Howell, of Rochester, N. Y., and will be an object of profitable interest to all visitors to the museum. From the heirs of the late J. S. Bliss, of Janesville, through Charles A. Bailey, Albion, N. Y.

Copper spear-head, 8 inches long, found in 1873 near Lake Winnebago; also, one 4 inches long with grooved socket, found near the boundary line of Clark and Wood counties, from William Campbell, Neillsville, in 1878 (mislaid in Dr. L. C. Draper's library, and not previously acknowledged); also, one 4 inches long, from C. C. P. Allerton, Eureka, Winnebago county (mislaid, like the foregoing).

Stone axe or wedge, 3 by 9 inches, found on the surface of the ground in sec. 21, town 35, range 11 west, in Barron county, on the site of the city of Rice Lake, 25 years ago; also, a copper knife, 8 inches long, found at the same place. From James Bracklin, Rice Lake.

Brick and flints extracted in the summer of 1891, by Secretary Thwaites, from the wall of the ancient Roman city of Verulamium, now St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England; also, a piece of pottery excavated by Secretary Thwaites on the site of the ancient Roman city of Silchester, in Berkshire, England, summer of 1891. Presented by him.

Several interesting specimens of fossils found in blue shale, at Kansas City, Mo. From Mrs. Theodore Gowdy, Kansas City.

A valuable collection of specimens of sub-marine fauna, coral, shells, etc., illustrating the life of the sea; collected at Bermuda by Col. Byron Andrews of New York city, and presented by him.

Curious stone formation found on the farm of Charles Wood, town of York, Dane county. From Dr. F. W. Moffat, Waterloo.

Shell of Wisconsin pearl-bearing river clam. From Mr. Marks, Dodgeville.

Link of an ox-chain imbedded in a section of a black oak tree (second growth), which was 22 inches in diameter, with 42 rings of annual growth; found on the farm of E. M. Snow, town of York, Dane county. From C. B. Wright, of that place.

Coin, Currency and Medals.

Copper Cornish penny, 1811. From J. W. Pryor, Dodgeville.

A $100 Confederate bill, Feb. 17, 1861. From Rev. N. Hens, South Kaukauna.

A $10 Confederate bill, Feb. 17, 1861; a £5 bill of "proclamation money,"

province of North Carolina, Dec. 17, 1771; also a $1 Virginia treasury note, March 21, 1862; also a 60-cent bill of the city of Richmond, Va., April 14, 1862; and a small Danish silver or nickel piece, 1710. From Dr. Lyman C. Draper.

A $1 Virginia treasury note, Oct. 21, 1882. From the West Virginia Historical and Antiquarian Society, Charleston, W. Va.

A 5-pfennig nickel piece; also a silver groschen. From R. McRae, Eau Claire.

Penny token, Nova Scotia, 1843. From C. G. Ermatinger, Chippewa Falls.

Note issued by Bank of Hudson (N. Y.), Jan. 27, 1814. Presented by Wm. Masters, Weyauwega.

Miscellaneous.

Section of a spruce tree, found on section 29, town 37 N., range 5 E. From W. N. Allen, Wausau.

A three pound shell foun 1 in Prairie du Chien, and thought to be a relic of the English-Indian attack on Fort Shelby, in 1814 probably fired from that fort. From Hon. Horace Beach, Prairie du Chien.

Saddle strap and spur, worn by a horse that was killed near Helena, Ark., Jan. 13, 1863, in the War of Secession. From Wolfgang Friederick, of Richland City, a member of Second Wisconsin cavalry, 1862–66.

Fac-simile of the first locomotive steam engine, the original of which was made by William Murdock, of Soho, England, in 1781. From R. and G. Tangye, Birmingham, England, by Miss A. Delaplaine, Madison.

Crystal chandelier, purchased by Mrs. Ole Bull in Paris, 1869, and used for a long time in the Thorp-Ole Bull residence on Gilman street, subse. quently purchased by the state of Wisconsin for the executive mansion. From Governor Peck.

Hickory cane, with carved snake, made at Cheyenne Pass, Colo., 1884. From Henry Haskins, Quincy, Ill., formerly of Nineteenth Wisconsin infantry.

Glass cane, made in Pittsburg, Pa. From Frederic Bergin, Madison. Proclamation of President Andrew Jackson against nullification, Dec. 10, 1832. From Dr. Lyman C. Draper.

Five illustrated newspapers (fac-simile) of the Bunker Hill centennial, June 17, 1875. From Dr. S. A. Green, Boston.

Specimen of miniature book-binding, size of a postage stamp - probably the smallest book ever bound. From A. Brosemer, Madison.

Nine medallion ornaments in lava, from Naples; also two glass mosaics, from Venice. From P. P. Peck, Chicago.

Paper weight, polished limestone, 2x3 inches. From E. Ray, Platteville.

Menu of the banquet at the twenty-fifth national encampment of the G. A. R. at Detroit, August 6, 1891, in case. From Gen. Lucius Fairchild, Madison.