ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR. 



1914 



To the Trustees of Field Museum of Natural History: 



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

 for the year ending December 31, 19 14. 



The Twentieth Anniversary of the foundation of the Museum was 

 ushered in with an intimation that it was necessary to curtail certain 

 activities in the Institution, in view of the default in payment of inter- 

 est on certain investments held in the Endowment Fund. There is 

 satisfaction in announcing, however, that this condition is only tem- 

 porary, for later in the year it was ascertained that the security for 

 the investments referred to was ample to protect the Institution as 

 to both principal and interest. The chief reduction in expenditure 

 was effected by the temporary abandonment of work in the Modeling 

 Sections of the Departments of Anthropology and Botany. It was 

 felt that the postponement of this work would not seriously affect the 

 plans of the Departments involved, and that the resumption of 

 operations might be undertaken at any future time without detriment 

 to the work in hand. 



Probably the most important event of the year was the tender 

 to the Board of Trustees of a site for the new Museum building 

 in the reclaimed area south of Grant Park by the South Park Com- 

 missioners. It is confidently anticipated that ground will be broken 

 on this site before the date of the next report. Already the greater 

 part of the steel necessary for the construction of the building is on 

 the ground, and of the marble necessary for the exterior of the 

 structure more than one-half has been quarried and cut. 



In view of the necessity of retrenchment in the matter of main- 

 tenance expenses, it was deemed advisable to discontinue for the 

 present the two lecture courses hitherto given on Saturday afternoons 

 in March and April, and October and November. The fact that there 

 is no hall in the present building to accommodate these lectures, and 

 the further fact that the only suitable auditorium with the requisite 

 seating capacity is situated some seven miles from the Institution, seems 

 to justify the temporary abandonment of this means of public instruc- 

 tion. 



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