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A NATIONAL REPOSITORY
FOR THE RECORDS AND RELICS OF THE SOUTHERN CAUSE,
PROPOSED BY
CHARLES BROADWAY ROUSS, of New York.
In the month of November last, Mr. Charles Broadway Rouss, a successful and philanthropic merchant of New York City, but a native of Virginia, submitted a proposition to various " Veteran Camps," "Memorial Associations," and "Historical Societies" in the Southern States, for the establishment of a National Confederate Museum or Repository for the records and relics of the Southern Cause.
He urged that the preservation of precious memorials and the perpetuation of " Homes " for the refuge of veterans and their wid- ows and needy orphans, might only be assured by active and earnest co-operation. Toward these ends he proposed the formation of a General Association, the objects of which would be the collection of records and relics, and the raising of a fund of $200,000, or more, with which to erect a proper building for their permanent preserva- tion, and to provide an income for its maintenance.
Lee Camp of Confederate Veterans, Commander E. Leslie Spence, promptly responded to Mr. Rouss, and delegated Major Norman V. Randolph to visit him and ascertain as definitely as he might his plans and views, and further, to submit the claims of Richmond as the place, and the Confederate Memorial Literary Society (which now owns the house occupied by President Jefferson Davis) as the organ- ization to which the patriotic trust might worthily be committed.
Mr. Rouss proposed that each Veteran Camp should subscribe at least $10, and inspired the hope that he would insure the final success of his scheme.
The location of the Museum, Mr. Rouss suggested, should be left to the decision of the ten senior generals of the Confederate army, now living.
