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(COPY.) 

#33 Ferry Avenue, 
Detroit, Michigan, 
January 26th, 1906.

My dear Mr. Rathbun:--

I am sending you, under separate cover, a formal acknowledgement of your official letter of the 24th instant, which I trust will answer necessities until the legal papers can be prepared. I consider the first requirement a list or inventory of the Collections, and to the preparation of this I am bending every energy. All unimportant specimens in the Collection are being weeded out, and in doing this work I am being assisted by Professor Fenollosa and other sympathetic experts. 

Under the conditions of my gift the conveyance of title to the Collections prevents the future withdrawal of even a single specimen, consequently most rigorous examination of every object is now necessary in order that nothing of inferior quality shall rest in the building when it is erected. Unless some unlooked for obstacle arises this important work will be finished about April 1st, and then the lawyers will have at their own command full details of the things already pledged. 

I appreciate very deeply your personal gratification at the outcome of our negotiations, and I trust that you will never experience the slightest disappointment either in the Collections or in whatever details in connection with the Collections that may come under your jurisdiction. I, also, am pleased with the informal expressions of the Regents and yourself in connection with my own personal enjoyment in the future. 

Believe me, with thanks, 

Very sincerely yours, 

To Richard Rathbun, Esq., 
Acting Secretary, Smithsonian Institution, 
Washington, U.S.A.

Transcription Notes:
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