Pages

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Letter of the Day: March 17 (3 of 3)

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 1342


126 East Garden St.

Rome, March 17th/96

Oneida Co., N.Y.


Dear Sir,


Will you be so kind as to inform me if you accept of petrified bodies, and if so what value would be placed upon the body of a little girl 2 years of age, that is wholly turned to stone with long flaxen hair. She died in 1864 and in digging a grave to bury a man they dug so close as to cut off the side of the childs coffin and in this way it was discovered. Please write and let me know before the 30th of this month, and oblige.


Wm. L. Yarwood


And the reply, rather than wait for two days to post it:



March 19, 1896


Mr. Wm. L. Yarwood,

Rome, N.Y.

Dear Sir:


Your letter of the 17th inst., in regard to the “petrified child with long flaxen hair” has been received, and in reply I would state that this Museum does not desire to purchase the specimen, which has no commercial value except possibly to a dime museum.


Very respectfully,

D.L. Huntington

Deputy Surgeon General, U.S. Army,

In charge of Museum and Library Division

No comments: