William L. Brown's Description of the Sleeping Children Statue

Summary

• William L. Brown described his favorite sculpture at the United States National Museum, now the National Museum of Natural History, on a notecard as follows:
• "The two sleeping babes/children in the rhotundra [sic] chisled by Rineheart [sic] of Baltimore, Md."
• I probably spent more time looking at the sleeping babes than any other exhibit in the Museum.
• When ever I was near them I would always stop to get another look at them.
• The material used to make this masterpiece was so hard but looks so soft and I think it is the most beautiful thing 'ever done by human' (Brown crossed out the words denoted between apostrophes) I ever saw done on hands".

Subject

United States National Museum

Category

Historic Images of the Smithsonian

Notes

• William L. Brown was a taxidermist at the United States National Museum.
• See Neg. SIA2011-0034 for a view of the sculpture "Sleeping Children."

Contained within

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7320, Box 2, Folder: 38

Contact information

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu

Date

1930s

Restrictions & Rights

No restrictions

Topic

Sculpture

Form/Genre

• Photographic print
• Document

ID Number

SIA2011-0035

Physical description

Number of Images: 1; Color: Black and white; Size: 6w x 4h; Type of Image: Document; Medium: Photographic print

Full Record

View Full Record