Abstract
George Ashingtons' Golden Pheasants were sent to him from the Royal Aviary in Paris, by his old comrade in arms, the Marquis de Lafayette, in 1786. They did not do well at Mount Vernon, and started to die early in 1787. Today two of them may be seen at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard, where they have resided since 1914. With a handful of other specimens, they are all that remain of a grand collection of mounted birds that existed in Philadelphia more than 200 years ago.
Among many other achievements, Charles Wilson Peale (1741-1827) painted George Washington from life seven times. In 1784, he created a museum in Philadelphia, which was to exist until 1849. His intention was to display "everything that is curious in this country". By 1802 (the year he put on display the first mounted skeletons of Mastodon), he had far exceeded his goal. His collection of....