16 EEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1914. 



cation from one part of the building to another is direct and unob- 

 structed. All of the halls open broadly into the rotunda, and there 

 is a continuous passage from range to range about the building. 

 Only the courts are out of the beaten paths, and each has one or 

 two entrances appropriately placed. 



With this brief description of the building, we may proceed to an 

 account of its present and prospective uses. 



HISTORY. 



The di^dsion of history, organized in 1881, was primarily designed 

 to illustrate the history of the United States from colonial times by 

 exhibiting such relics or memorials of noteworthy personages and 

 events as could be brought together, with groups of objects rep- 

 resenting different periods. Eecently an American period costume 

 collection has been added, which introduces a very striking and in- 

 teresting feature ; and to the division are also assigned the coins and 

 medals and the paraphernalia of the postal service, the most im- 

 portant being the stamps, all of which relate to other countries as 

 well as our own. Wliile practically all of the memorials and cos- 

 tumes are displaj^'ed, the duplicate coins and medals and full sets of 

 duplicates from the stamp collection are arranged as a reserve series 

 for the use of students. Also filed in drawers and constituting a 

 most valuable reference series are several thousand photographs 

 and engravings of individuals Avho have gained more or less promi- 

 nence in their respective pursuits. 



Originally based mainly on loans, so large a part of the collection 

 has become the property of the Museum that its permanenc}'^ is fixed 

 beyond question. Lenders, moreover, appreciating the protection 

 assured their heirlooms, and actuated to some extent at least by pa- 

 triotic motives, are not inclined to withdraw the objects belonging 

 to them, and it is interesting to note the frequent changes during 

 recent years from " loan " to " gift " of important articles that have 

 been deposited. 



Starting with the north hall as its sole exhibition space, which it 

 shared with other subjects, the collections have grown so steadily 

 that the division at present not only utilizes that entire hall, but has 

 also gained possession of the west north and north west ranges and the 

 floor space in the northwest court, with an aggregate of about 17,000 

 square feet of floor space. 



MEMORIAL COLLECTIONS. 



The general historical or memorial collections, constituting the 

 most varied and popular section of the division and the most ex- 

 tensive as regards the area covered, occupy the north hall and west 



