Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
January 23, 1789
Primary Source Reference:
Pennsylvania Packet (Philadelphia), 23 Jan 1789
Additional Source Text:
"Presented to Mr. Peale's American Museum, since his late arrival in Baltimore."
Notes:
This is the first record of five mastodon teeth acquired by the Museum by 1796. The other four were described in A Scientific and Descriptive Catalogue of Peale's Museum, p. 21, as:
1) "A small grinder, supposed to have belonged to a young animal" from Thomas Jefferson;
2) "A grinder found near Warwick, Maryland" from Mr. Heath;
3) "a grinder found near Bladensburg, Maryland" from Mr. Cramphin." Freeman's Journal (Philadelphia), 11 Nov 1789 adds: "Which was found on the branch of Patuxent river, five miles from Bladensburg, Maryland. . . . These teeth being found in such different parts of America, is a proof that this tremendous animal has formerly been over many parts of North America";
4) "Part of grinder found at Mill-creek, near the town of Lancaster, Pennsylvania" from Mr. Funk
The Museum's mastodon teeth were probably similar to the one pictured here, sent by William Clark in 1807 to Thomas Jefferson, who sent it to the American Philosophical Society, which later gave it to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.
For the donor, see Pamela Bahr Satek, "William Lux of Baltimore: 18th-century Merchant" (M.A., University of Maryland, 1974) / https://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/handle/1903/25285/Satek%2c%20P.%20B..pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Specimen Type:
Individual parts
Current Common Name:
Mastodon
Current Scientific Name
Mastodon americanum
