By 杰里米Dibbell
利记APP官网手机版MHS的早期卷,我最喜欢的一点是 诉讼 捐赠名单是前几年的吗, when the Society accumulated not only gifts to enhance its library of manuscripts and printed books but also a hefty collection of natural history specimens and “curiosities.” 的 first large donation of this type was received at the sixth meeting, 1791年12月21日, when the owners of the ships “Columbia” and “Washington” (“the first vessels from the United States to Nootka Sound and the Sandwich Islands”) presented to the Historical Society “a hat, 斗篷, 还有土著人的披风, 那里用树皮制作几块布, and other artificial and natural curiosities of that part of America brought in those vessels …”.
Donations along these lines continued to arrive: on 29 January 1793 the 诉讼 注意更多来自太平洋的“奇珍异宝”, 外加《利记APP官网手机版》.同年4月,“一只狼蛛,来自琼斯先生. 以利沙西格妮,(西格妮后来给了他一个“毛皮印章”, 来自福克兰群岛”)“动物保护的标本, 先生. 参议员杰里米·贝尔纳普(Jeremy Belknap.“还有我最喜欢的一只:一只非常大的火烈鸟. 小威廉·赫西.” Other interesting gifts from 1793-94 include “a Bone of the Sawfish, 先生. 小威廉·米勒.,” “A Demerara Opossum, stuffed, from 上校ain Peter Chace,” “A Madagascar Bat, from Dr. 德克斯特,以及杰里米·贝尔纳普(Jeremy Belknap)的《利记手机官网》(A Flying Fish), 一块刻薄的石头, 新罕布什尔州的银鼠, 印第安独木舟, 一些硬币, 一种来自圣岛的球鱼. 海伦娜和一只海豚.”
1795年11月24日. 托马斯·休斯带来了《利记手机官网》, from Batavia; a Crocodile and nondescript Quadruped, 从锡兰; a Silver Pen and Case, from Indian; a Gentoo Letter; a bundle of Palm Leaves, showing the manner of keeping accounts in India; a Bow and Arrows, from Bengal; a Petrified Substance, 从圣. Helena; a Hooka, 或吸烟机, of India; a Gentoo Slipper; a Horned Snake, from the Asps of Bengal; a Remora, from the Indian Ocean; a Firearm, 从锡兰, curiously wrought with gold and silver; a Sandwich Island Cup; two branches of Coral, from the Isle of France; a piece of Vitrified Rock, from the Isle of Ascension; a box of Insects, from the Cape of Good Hope; an Antelope’s Horn; a Crystallization, from a salt-pit in Liverpool; a collection of Marine Shells, 其中包括悍马, 布洛克之心, and the Razor; a Petrified Snake Skin; a branch of the Cinnamon Tree; a Hog Fish; and an Indian Fan.” 的 same day brought “Two Grasshoppers, from the West Indies 先生. 爱德华Renouf.
的 Historical Society’s quarters must have been a pretty interesting place in those days. 这种情况持续了好几年, with each meeting witnessing the donation of a few items of note (“A Giant Clam, 重达417磅”,于1803年1月运抵, 例如).
随着MHS的成熟, and became more focused as a repository for manuscripts (and moved premises several times), many of the natural history and ethnographic pieces were removed from the collections: in the 1830s the specimens were deposited in the cabinet of the Boston Society of Natural History (precursor of today’s 科学博物馆), 后来从太平洋海岸和岛屿上收集了大量的材料, 还有考古遗迹, were given to the Peabody Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology (now the 皮博迪博物馆 哈佛大学).
但并不是所有的东西都离开了协会. 其余的“奇闻”包括:
“A Hook, from the Sandwich Islands, made out of a bone of 上校ain 烹饪,” received 先生. 雅各布·威廉姆斯(1804年5月. 卫生部档案里有一封W. 爱默生 to the Corresponding Secretary reports “的 hook which accompanyes [sic] this Note I received from Deacon Jacob Williams, 以前是我教堂的一名官员, 是谁要求我以他的名义把它交给历史学会的. It was given to him by his son Jacob Williams, who received it from a man, who attended 上校. 德比, 他死在滑铁卢, 沙洲群岛之一, in 1802, 和谁, (德比)从一个印第安酋长那里得到的, 谁说, that the prong of the hook was made of one of the bones of the celebrated navigator, 上校. 烹饪.” In 1996 the hook was tested by the staff of the Kendall Whaling Museum; they confirmed that it is human bone, 但无法将范围缩小到原来的主人.
鸡和乌龟的气管,S. 布里奇沃特大厅(1833年1月31日. 我们不知道哪个是哪个(明智的建议乐意接受).
Nail and tree bark supposed to be from Mercy Otis Warren’s home and tree near Patriot James Otis, Jr., when he was struck by the bolt of lightning which killed him in May, 1783. 据说在此之前他曾对默西说过, "我亲爱的姐姐, 我希望, when God Almighty in his righteous providence shall take me out of time into eternity that it will be by a flash of lightning.他的愿望实现了.
有关该协会藏品历史的更多信息,请参见 诉讼 卷. 28, pp. 312-348号,当时的图书管理员塞缪尔·A. 格林对这个问题作了详尽的叙述.