>     I'm embarrassed to have to ask this, but the references I have at
>hand, including the WWWeb, have failed me:
>     In a biography of naturalist Georg Steller, who sailed with Vitus
>Bering, there is a reference to the United States National Museum. That
>sounds familiar to me, but I can't place it and haven't been able to
>trace it.
>     So (blush), can somebody tell me where 'tis?

US National Museum was an old name used to identify the Smithsonian
Institution.  Many old tags and ID labels on objects and specimens will
have "USNM" stamped or written on them.  These old tags are objects in
their own right.  I can't say when they stopped calling it the US National
Museum, probably when it branched out into more than one.

I could be wrong.  Current or recent SI employees can elaborate better than I.
Any thoughts, Adrienne?

HBC

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Henry B. Crawford        Curator of History
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*********All opinions expressed are mine**********