14 KEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1919. 



upon the completion of the building then being erected for the 

 Bureau at the corner of Vermont Avenue and H Street, and that 

 the JMuseum space would be turned back to the Museum authorities 

 in the same condition in which was received by the Bureau. Late 

 in March the Bureau moved to its own structure, but its funds were 

 then so depleted that it was unable to carry out the agreement as to 

 renovating the building. It was therefore unfortunately necessary 

 to reopen the Natural History Building without making the needed 

 repairs, the first floor being opened to visitors on April 11 and the 

 second floor on April 22. 



From the beginning of the fiscal year until the signing of the 

 armistice on November 11 members of the Museum staff in all de- 

 partments continued along the same general lines as last year to 

 render service to the various govermnental agencies more directly 

 engaged in prosecuting America's part in the great conflict. Much 

 valuable assistance was thus given, and the cooperation of the Mu- 

 seum in this work has resulted in bringing it into even closer rela- 

 tionship with the executive departments, with beneficial results. 



Advantage was taken of the closing of the exhibition halls to give 

 additional attention to classifying, arranging, labeling, and other- 

 wise putting in shape the study series in the various departments. 

 In the department of geology this also afforded opportunity to thor- 

 oughly clean and to some extent rearrange the exhibition series, so 

 that when reopened to visitors the halls were more interesting than 

 ever. 



FINANCES. 



The maintenance and operation of the Museum for the fiscal year 

 July 1, 1918, to June 30, 1919, were provided for by the following 

 items of appropriation in the sundry civil bill approved July 1, 

 1918: 



Preservation of collections $300, 000 



Furniture and fixtures 15,000 



Heating and lighting 55, 000 



Building repairs 10, 000 



Purchase of books 2,000 



Postage 500 



Printing and binding 37, 500 



Total 420, 000 



Although the Museum has received many and some exceedingly 

 valuable additions to its collections by bequest, it is only recently 

 that financial assistance has been rendered it in this way. During 

 the year the Museum made its first purchases from the Frances Lea 

 Chamberlain Funds. These two funds, as mentioned in previous 

 reports, were created by Dr. Leander Trowbridge Chamberlain for 



