Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
June 15, 1805
Primary Source Reference:
Peale Museum Accessions Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 6
Additional Source Text:
"Presented by Mr. Thos. Sturdson."
Notes:
Sir Alexander Mackenzie (1764-1820) was a British explorer known for accomplishing the first east to west crossing of America north of Mexico in 1793, which preceded the more famous Lewis and Clark Expedition by 12 years.
This bear claw from Mackenzie may have been one of those pictured here. They are among the many cultural items that the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography, Harvard University, acquired in 1899 from Moses Kimball's Boston Museum. Kimball and P. T. Barnum jointly purchased many of the Peale collections when they were sold about 1849. These claws were perforated for stringing in a necklace.
The donor was probably Thomas Stewardson, Sr. (1762-1841). "A Philadelphia Quaker, identified himself as a merchant, but his primary occupation was as agent for local and British concerns and estate administrator. His agency was carried on by successive generations, by his son George, also a merchant, and his grandson, Thomas, an attorney." From the description of Papers, 1716-1900 (Historical Society of Pennsylvania).
