Rembrandt Peale to Thomas Jefferson, 13 July 1813
From Rembrandt Peale
Philada July 13. 1813,
Dear Sir
In a Box of Books which general Armstrong presented to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine-Arts there were packed up several articles belonging to himself which he requested me to take charge of, It was a long time after I had them before I remarked a small package for you, containing 3 Stones which you were desirous of possessing, accompanied with a letter from the gentleman who purchased them for you. The small piece which he mentions having cemented, I found again loose—but no other damage. Dr marks & afterwards a near neighbour of yours promised to take charge of them but they failed giving me notice of their departure, and I now remit them by Mr Correa for whom they have been long waiting.
Having purchased the museum in Baltimore, I mean to form a handsome establishment in that City, the general plan of which will differ from my fathers museum, it being my intention to render it more properly a museum of Arts & Sciences, and, without neglecting any branch of Natural History to bestow my chief attention to the formation of a Picture Gallery & Depository of the course and products of manufactures—
I still hope some fortunate leisure will enable me to pay a Visit to Monticello. In the meanwhile believe me Sir
Rembrandt Peale
RC (MHi); endorsed by TJ as received 1 Aug. 1813 and so recorded (as delivered “by Mr Correa de Serra”) in SJL. Enclosure: Claude Antoine Prieur Duvernois to TJ, 5 Sept. 1810.
In 1813 Peale purchased the collection formerly exhibited by James Savage as the Baltimore New Museum and, later, by Caleb Boyle as the Baltimore Permanent Museum ( , 3:170n, 344).
Peale’s undated “Prospectus of a Museum of Arts and Sciences, to be established in Baltimore,” a copy of which came into TJ’s possession at some point, laments that, “except in the capital cities of Europe, the inquisitive mind labours under the want” of instruction; suggests that institutions displaying “Natural and Artificial objects” scientifically are exceeded in importance only by public libraries; states that museums provide “a School of universal Knowledge” and “the means of rational Amusement, even to the most idle”; and proposes, with the aid of liberal patrons, to form such a repository, containing “Pictures, Statues, Birds, Beasts, Fishes, Insects, Shells, Plants, Minerals, Philosophical, Mechanical, Agricultural and Commercial objects of demonstration” (printed circular in DLC: TJ Papers, 228:40745–6; addressed in an unidentified hand: “Edward Johnson Esq.”).
Index Entries
- Armstrong, John; donates books search
- Baltimore, Md.; museums in search
- Boyle, Caleb search
- Corrêa da Serra, José; conveys minerals to TJ search
- Duvernois, Claude Antoine Prieur; sends minerals to TJ search
- Marks, Dr. search
- museums; in Baltimore search
- museums; Philadelphia Museum search
- Peale, Charles Willson; and Philadelphia Museum search
- Peale, Rembrandt; Baltimore museum of search
- Peale, Rembrandt; forwards minerals to TJ search
- Peale, Rembrandt; letters from search
- Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Philadelphia) search
- Philadelphia; Museum search