the call of the directors of the New York Museum, he became manager of it.
The sons of Peale who had real tastes in zoology were both of the name of Titian. Titian Peale, by Charles Willson's first wife, was becoming a naturalist of great promise and of great help to his father, when he died at the age of eighteen. In memory of this son Peale named a child by his second wife Titian. This Titian became an ornithologist[1] of some distinction, and was conservator of the collections of the Philadelphia Museum for many years.
Peale as a Museum Director
As we have seen, Charles Willson Peale was an enthusiastic collector. The object of these collections was the education of the public. Peale's ideas as to the function of museums are best illustrated by some extracts from a lecture introductory to a series of forty that he delivered in the winter of 1800-1801.[2] He wrote that a museum should teach the economic use of animals and plants. Says Peale:
A farmer ought to know what reptiles best aid and protect the fruit of his labors, and not through ignorance destroy such as feed on animals more destructive to his grain and fruits; nor possess antipathies to those that he ought to cherish.
A museum should exert a moral influence in the community. Said the lecturer:
An instance of this is in the memory of many of my hearers. The chiefs of several nations of Indians who had an hereditary enmity, happened to meet unexpectedly in the museum in 1796; they regarded themselves with considerable emotion which in some degree subsided when, by their interpreters, they were informed, that each party, ignorant of the intention of the other, had come merely to view the museum. Never having met before, but in the field of battle,. . . now for the first time finding themselves at peace surrounded by a scene calculated to inspire the most perfect harmony, the first suggestion was that as men, they were of the same species and ought forever to bury the hatchet of war. After leaving the museum they formed a treaty. At the request of the Secretary of War, I supplied them with a room. They heard a speech written by General Washington recommending peace. Their orators spoke, and they departed friends.
After giving a brief account of the history of the museums in the world, from the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, he describes his ideal museum. Says he:
