ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR. 



1895-1896. 



To the Trustees and Members of Field Columbian Museum: 



I have the honor to present a report of the operations of the 

 Museum for the year closing September 30, 1896. The system of 

 the Museum generally has been much improved during the past twelve 

 months. Expenditures have been made more in the direction of 

 classification than in re-installation; in working over old, rather than 

 in purchasing new material, and in labeling, numbering and cata- 

 loguing specimens. While the work of the first year may be charac- 

 terized as rushing and spasmodic, the labor of the second year has 

 been even and steady. The number of department subordinates and 

 clerks has been increased, but the pay roll of mechanics has been cur- 

 tailed. Except in the lower ranks, there have been no changes in the 

 personnel of the staff, and except as may be demanded by the further 

 subdivisions of the departments, the Museum may be said, with 

 respect to its salary roll, to be upon a permanent basis. Much of the 

 crudeness of the original installation has disappeared during this 

 year, producing greater harmony of method, and connecting divisions 

 with closer regard for an intelligent and comprehensive scheme of 

 installation. The great courts have been metamorphosed, not only 

 providing requisite space for the growing collections of Archeology 

 and Zoology, but substituting for an installation of the character of 

 an exposition, an arrangement on museum lines. While the year 

 has been a busy one, and the results satisfactory, yet considering the 

 requirements, constantly growing in importance and increasing in 

 number, the second year, like the first, seems to have demonstrated 

 simply the necessity for still greater effort. 



Income and Maintenance. — The Director's "income and main- 

 tenance " budget for the current year, estimated the income at $71,576, 

 and the expenses at $101,220. These two estimates based upon those 

 of the previous year, have naturally proven to have come nearer the 

 actual figures than those of the first year, for which there was no 

 precedent. But as the present budget provided for a sharp increase 



in the departmental force, the efforts made to bring the two sums 



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