370 Field Museum of Natural History — Reports, Vol. IV. 



The publication of a series of picture postal cards, portraying 

 the various objects and groups installed in the Museum, was inaugu- 

 rated during the year. The sale of the cards has been encouraging, 

 for over fifty thousand have been disposed of, although they have 

 only been offered for sale a few months. A second series representing 

 forty-two objects and groups in the collections will shortly be pub- 

 lished. 



The acceptance by Assistant Curator Osgood of the invitation 

 to serve on a United States Government Commission to study and 

 make recommendations regarding the management of the fur-seal 

 herd on the Pribiloff Islands, deprived the Department of Zoology 

 of his services for over half of the year. Leave of absence was granted 

 to Curator Dorsey of the Department of Anthropology for approxi- 

 mately one year. At least two months of Dr. Dorsey's time, however, 

 will be occupied in an ethnologic survey of British India in behalf 

 of the Museum. The remainder of the leave granted is for a personal 

 undertaking. 



The death of Byron L. Smith, Treasurer of the Museum, in March 

 has to be recorded. Mr. Smith had faithfully served the Museum 

 as Treasurer since its foundation, and as an officer of the Board, a 

 friend of the Institution, and a high-minded public-spirited citizen of 

 Chicago, his loss will be keenly felt. Mr. Solomon A. Smith was 

 elected Treasurer to succeed his father. The death of Mr. Joseph N. 

 Field, a Patron of the Museum, has also to be chronicled, and as a 

 memorial for his generosity to the Museum, the Board of Trustees by 

 resolution have named the hall in which the South Sea Islands 

 ethnological material is installed the "Joseph N. Field Hall." 

 The death of Dr. Seth Eugene Meek in July of this year was a 

 shock to his associates, and is an irreparable loss to the Department 

 of Zoology, of which he was Assistant Curator for seventeen years. 

 Dr. Meek's highly valuable services on behalf of the Institution were 

 recognized by the Board of Trustees in formal resolutions adopted on 

 the occasion of his death. 



Mr. Carl E. Akeley in performance of his contract completed and 

 installed during the month of December a group of African Buffalo 

 consisting of five individuals. This group which is installed in the 

 South Court keeps fully up to the high standard of excellence exhibited 

 by those previously produced by him. A brief description of this 

 addition to the Museum groups is made elsewhere in this report. 



References elsewhere indicate that the activities in the Institution, 

 more especially in the progress of installation, have been fully main- 

 tained during the year under review. 



