hibits (see page 45). Exhibits of special timely interest were pre- 

 pared to indicate the interesting and unusual life cycle of the 

 so-called 17-year locust and to illustrate the causes of the Dutch 

 elm disease and its effects on American shade trees (see page 35) . 



The East Asian Library on the third floor of the Museum, 

 through the acquisition of many splendid new volumes and the 

 careful cataloguing and arrangement of our previous collections 

 including the Laufer Library, has achieved prominence as an out- 

 standing source of reference material in its field (see page 68). 



Financial difficulties continued to be a matter of major concern 

 of the Museum's administration, in spite of an increase of almost 

 $58,000 in tax support. Rising prices due to continuing inflation, 

 together with a decrease of over $31,000 from real-estate invest- 

 ments, indicate the need of additional income or a reduction in the 

 services of the Museum to the public. Economy in operation has 

 always been practiced at the Museum and application of more strin- 

 gent curtailment of expenditures can be made only at a sacrifice of 

 long-cherished plans for expansion and improvement. 



ATTENDANCE 



An increase of 28,836 persons brought the total of Museum visitors 

 during the year to 1,101,512. Of this total only 11.7 per cent paid 

 the nominal twenty-five cent admission while the others either 

 attended on the free days (Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday) or 

 were members of catagories who are exempt at all times from 

 admission fees. The increasing attendance was quite marked during 

 the first seven months of the year, but August, usually the peak 

 month, showed a sudden drop so that August totaled some 23,000 

 less than July. The unfortunate increase in polio in Chicago, which 

 almost reached epidemic proportions, caused Chicago citizens to 

 avoid large crowds. This was noted not only at our Museum but 

 at the other museums and zoos of the city and in private entertain- 

 ment-ventures as well. It was only in November and December 

 that the Museum again showed increased attendance over the 

 corresponding months of the previous year, this increase being the 

 result of the season and of the very effective educational program 

 of the Museum's Raymond Foundation (see page 30). May con- 

 tinued to be the peak month for organized-group attendance, with 

 1,039 groups and 49,657 students and teachers. The largest group 

 of the year (approximately 1,350) was, as usual, the delegates to the 

 National Congress of 4-H Clubs. 



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