314 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 00 



ORIGIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VERTEBRATE FOSSILS AND 

 ITS LATER ORGANIZATION 



In the formative years of the Smithsonian Institution there was no 

 separate unit that dealt exclusively vs^ith vertebrate fossils, their cus- 

 tody apparently falling to the lot of vrorkers interested in other sub- 

 jects. With the establishment of the United States National Museum, 

 however, vertebrate fossils were placed in the custody of the Depart- 

 ment of Comparative Anatomy, and such preparatory and exhibition 

 work as was carried on at that time was done by the osteologists of 

 that department. 



This arrangement persisted until 1887. In that year Prof. O. C. 

 Marsh, of Yale University, was appointed honorary curator of the 

 Department of Vertebrate Fossils." Professor Marsh had been ver- 

 tebrate paleontologist on the United States Geological Survey staff 

 since 1882, and during that time, under liberal allotments from the 

 Powell administration and with the aid of a large staif of assistants, 

 he had made notable progress in collecting, preparing, and describing 

 vertebrate materials. The first report of progress of the Department 

 of Vertebrate Fossils appears in the Annual Report of the United 

 States National Museum for 1891, p. 223, by Frederic A. Lucas, 

 Assistant Curator. 



A general reorganization of the department was inaugurated by 

 Assistant Secretary G. Brown Goode in 1894, when all the fossil col- 

 lections were administered under the title "Department of Paleon- 

 tology," with Dr. Charles D. Walcott, Director of the United States 

 Geological Survey, as honorary curator and Charles Schuchert as 

 assistant curator. 



The appointment of Mr. Schuchert was of more than passing im- 

 portance, since for the first time in their history the paleontological 

 collections were placed in charge of an official paid by the Museum. 

 Mr. Schuchert, although primarily more occupied with invertebrate 

 fossils, nevertheless made notable contributions to the upbuilding 

 and care of the vertebrate collections during his administration of 

 the section. The new Department was divided into three sections: 

 (1) Vertebrate fossils, with O. C. Marsh as honorai-y curator and 

 Frederic A. Lucas as acting assistant curator; (2) invertebrate fossils; 

 and (3) fossil plants. On this reorganization Goode commented: 

 "It will now also be possible to bring the work incident to installation 

 of all paleontological material under one uniform system." 



In 1897, with the advent of the head curator system, a further 

 change in the Museum's organization placed all paleontology under 

 the Department of Geology, Vertebrate Paleontology becoming a 



1* Ann. Rep. U. S. Nat. Mus. for 1887. p. 4. 1889. 



