On Thu, 7 Mar 1996, MARY S. MCCUTCHEON wrote:

> When they redid the Peale Museum in Baltimore a few years ago, their
> title included the Mastodon and Mermaid in reference to the Mastodon that
> Peale excavated and the Mermaid that Barnum made famous. Did they ever
> put the mermaid up in the revived exhibit?  I have the catalog at home so
> I can check.
>
> Mary McCutcheon
>

The "Fejee Mermaid" exhibited in 1990 - 1992 by the Peale Museum was on
loan from the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard
University.  The "Mermaid" is now back at the Peabody.  According to
Peabody records, the "Mermaid" was bought by Moses Kimball ca. 1842 from a
sailor who had purchased it in Calcutta in 1817 from a Japanese sailor.
P. T. Barnum "hired" the "Mermaid" from Kimball and toured it through the
country.  Later it returned to Kimball's Boston Museum.  When that Museum
burned down, a portion of its collections including the "Mermaid" came to
the Peabody.

Hope that answers the question!

Viva Fisher
Registrar
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
Harvard University
11 Divinity Avenue
Cambridge, MA  02138
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