ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR. 



1900-1901. 



To the Trustees of the Field Columbian Museum : 



I have the honor to present the Report of the operations of the 

 Museum for the year closing September 30, 1901. The expenses of 

 the Museum under the head of maintenance have been in excess of 

 the budget this year, but, as a matter of fact, the large amount of 

 money that was expended for re-supporting the main floor, having 

 been done under special instructions of the President, is not a proper 

 charge against maintenance. If this fact is taken into consideration, 

 the expenditures have been under the budget. 



It would seem from the permanent improvements recorded each 

 year that the building is gradually being reconstructed. This, as a 

 matter of fact, is true as concerns the offices, laboratories, etc., but 

 the growing needs of the Museum and the expanding processes neces- 

 sary to meet the demand of the departments are but an index of the 

 development of the entire Institution. More and more each year the 

 Museum finds itself equipped to perform all the necessary labor; not 

 only the technical and scientific labor, but the ordinar}^ mechanical 

 work as well, and the circumstances are unusual when outside agen- 

 cies are employed. 



The Institution has been honored by the visits of a great many 

 officers and students of Museums at home and abroad, and there has 

 been a universal reference to its advancement and approval of its 

 methods. The Report in its detail will determine the healthy condi- 

 tion of the affairs of the Museum and will point to the extension of 

 its investigations and influence into all fields within its scope and to 

 all parts of the world. The improvements in installation, in accord- 

 ance with the strictest scientific standard, is steadily in pi'ogress. 

 Inappropriate and undesirable material is constantly disappearing to 

 be supplanted by that which is nearer the standard, and the Museum 

 is doing Museum work; while the laboratory and the study is not 

 neglected, yet the fact that the Museum is dedicated to the enlighten- 

 ment, instruction and in a measure to the entertainment of the public, 

 is not ignored, and those things calculated to advance this policy are 



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