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[[preprinted]]    
MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS
[[line]]
BOSTON . MASSACHUSETTS . 02115
Office of the President
[[/preprinted]]
 
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The sculpture which the Association procured was dedicated in the Statehouse in November, 1827, and at the meeting of Saturday, May 26, 1827, at which the erection was authorized, it was voted,

"That the Committee be fully empowered to take any and all such measures as may be needful to erect and preserve the statue of Washington in conformity with the vote aforesaid, and that the Treasurer be authorized to devote the residue of the funds for the purpose aforesaid under the direction of the Committee."

The vote concluded, "and finally to do all other matters and things which may be needful to close the concerns of the Association."

Stuart died in 1828 and the Athenaeum, which owned several Stuarts, and had been interested in his work, showed the two portraits in the same year. But it was not until 1831 that a combination of the Washington Monument Association and an additional group of individuals, some of whom belonged to both the Athenaeum and the Washington Monument Association, were able to purchase the two portraits from the heirs of Gilbert Stuart and give them to the Athenaeum. The Athenaeum Book of Donations Item 15 records, 

"The original portraits of George Washington and Mrs. Washington painted by the late Gilbert Stuart purchased of Mrs. Stuart for the sum of $1,500 and given to the Boston Athenaeum by the Washington Association and the following gentlemen:"

It should be noted that there was a close relationship between the Association and the Athenaeum given the substantial number of common members and even common founders (Isaac P.