SCIENCE CLUB'S MUSEUM AND D. A. R. MEMORIAL CASE

 

Franklin Hatch library building, Court Street, Cortland, N. Y.

Cortland Semi-Weekly Standard, Tuesday, April 28, 1903.

THE SCIENCE CLUB’S MUSEUM

And the D. A. R. Historical Case—Some of The Contents.

   Comparatively few people in Cortland realize the excellency of the new museum in the Franklin Hatch library, founded by the Cortland Science club. No small addition was made Wednesday evening when the collection of relics and souvenirs collected by the Tioughnioga chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution was opened to the public.

D. A. R. Historical Case.

   Some of the principal relics in the case are the silk flag presented by the ladies of Cortland to Co. H, Twenty-eighth Regt. N. Y. Volunteers, and carried by them through the civil war. On the flag appears the names of the battles participated in by the regiment. The flag was loaned to the museum by George W. Edgcomb, the custodian. The sword and part of the uniform of Nathaniel Bouton is loaned by Mrs. Purvis. A fragment of a shell from Fort Ticonderoga is donated by Miss Hatheway. A fragment of rock from Fort Ticonderoga, one from Fort Putnam, piece of Plymouth rock, Lendrum’s History of the American Revolution, loaned by Mrs. G. H. Smith. Continental paper money loaned by Mrs. F. Daehler. Pennsylvania Colonial currency issued in 1773 donated by Miss Hatheway. Piece of Fort Sumter flag staff, books, including Life of George Washington and Life of Zachary Taylor published in 1856 and 1847 respectively, loaned by Mrs. George H. Smith. Plates with historic designs loaned by Mrs. J. L. Watrous. Revolutionary pension paper donated by Mrs. C. F. Thompson. Brick from Penn house dated 1687, loaned by Miss Mary Hubbard. Section of oak cut from ship Congress which was one of the fleet on Lake Champlain commanded by Benedict Arnold, sunk in 1776 and raised eighty years later, loaned by Mrs. Hyatt. Souvenirs of the campaign of 1840 (log cabin campaign) presented by N. H. Gillette. Old and historic papers loaned by Franklin Hatch association and some donated to the D. A. R. by Johnson G. Bingham of Solon, as well as many other valuable relics.

Indian Relics.

   In addition to the historic collection the museum contains a splendid collection of Indian arrow and spearheads loaned by Rev. U. S. Milburn; a number of ceremonial stones, tubes, pestles for grinding corn, hammers, fleshers, scrapers, perforators, etc., of [North American] Indian manufacture. Many of these were found near the farm of O. U. Kellogg in Cortland. There is also a good collection of minerals donated by Prof. W. M. Booth, L. D. Hopkins, Dr. F. W. Higgins, F. E. Whitmore and the United States museum. Among these may be found hermatite magnetite iron and copper pyrites, silver bearing and carnelian quartz crystals, limestone, marble, sulphur, gneiss, baride hornblende, jasper conglomerate, peacock coal, petrified wood, etc.

Collection of Birds’ Eggs.

   The collection of birds’ eggs loaned by Benj. A. Nichols is one of the more interesting collections in the museum. It includes over 160 varieties of birds’ eggs, among which may be mentioned those of the house wren, western gnat catcher, Arkansas goldfinch, ruby throated humming bird, nut hatch, teal, high warbler, catbird, horned lark, California jay, flicker, bob white, California partridge, least bittern, rose breasted gross beak, hermit thrush, fox sparrow, wood pewee, indigo bunting, painted bunting, shrike tern, rail, scarlet tananger, night hawk, plover, snowy herron, thrasher, owls, magpie, gull, osprey, flamingo, pelican, wild turkey and many others. There is also a cast of the egg of the great [Auk].

   An egg is worth $2,000. No doubt the most valuable collection is the Watts-Haight collection of birds all of which are excellently mounted and placed in handsome and substantial cases. The collection includes the indigo bird, wood, tawny, New York aquatic, hermit, migrating and golden crowned thrushes, shore lark, swallows, cat bird, red headed, hairy, red bellied, and pileated wood pecker, wren, white-winged, pine, and common grass bill, mealey red poll, wood Pewee, shore lark, teal, nut hatch, butcher bird, titmouse, quail, grouse, partridge, South American crane, China bird, blue jay, Jew bird, East Indian pigeon, ale wife, grebe, great American diver, plover, sand piper, various species of hawks, etc. The collection also contains a number of stuffed and mounted animals among which may be mentioned the lynx, raccoon, wild cat, otter, bland and flying squirrels, ichneumon, guinea pigs, northern hares, etc.

   There is also on exhibition a piece of the tusk, pieces of the short ribs and a knee cap of a mastodon. The museum is well worth a careful examination and the Science club is to be congratulated on the splendid collection it has procured.