Jan. 1935 Annual Report of the Director 203 



of copy for new and replacement labels was not as actively pushed 

 as was the case last year. However, copy for 170 labels was prepared 

 and sent to the Division of Printing. In order to afford information 

 regarding the exhibits before permanent labels are ready, 455 

 temporary' tjrpewritten labels were prepared and installed. Labels 

 totaling 1,812, received during the year from the Division of Printing, 

 were installed. Two hundred thirty-eight photographic prints were 

 added to the Department albums, bringing the total number in 

 them to 7,736. Labels for all prints were made and filed with them. 

 Three hundred eighty-four United States Geological Survey maps 

 were received, filed and labeled, making the number of these maps 

 now available 4,232. 



It has become increasingly evident during the past few years 

 that a classified catalogue of at least some of the collections is a 

 necessity. When arranging exchanges or purchases, planning im- 

 proved or new exhibits, or answering questions from scientific 

 workers, it is often necessary to know whether the collections include 

 a certain kind of specimen. The regular catalogue is useless for 

 this purpose because in it entries are necessarily chronological in 

 order, and only the broadest classification is possible. In the past, 

 dependence has been upon memory supplemented by an orderly 

 arrangement of both exhibited and reserve collections. The collec- 

 tions are now so large that memory is no longer dependable, and a 

 search of even a well-classified reserve collection often involves the 

 expenditure of a prohibitive amount of time. The preparation of the 

 most necessary of these catalogues, now well under way, has absorbed 

 much of the Department staff's time. The work has been facilitated 

 by the use of clerical assistants, assigned by the Illinois Emergency 

 Relief Commission, who have been able to do much of the typing 

 and routine work. A card catalogue, arranged alphabetically, of 

 all meteorites received since the date (1916) of the last printed 

 catalogue, has been completed and is in use. A catalogue of the 

 mineral collection, arranged in the order of the Dana system num.bers, 

 has been started, and 2,810 cards have been made, checked, and filed. 

 These cards tell the Dana number, catalogue number, name and 

 locality of each specimen, and when, how and from whom it was 

 acquired. They also give the approximate size and such other 

 description as the cataloguer is able to supply. As the catalogue, 

 when complete, will contain at least 16,000 cards, it will be a matter 

 of some years before it is finished. There is special need for a 

 catalogue of the nearly 8,000 geological photographs in the Depart- 



