PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



issued ImHTvA- \ffi^i h Ae 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Vol. 90 Washington : 1941 No. 3109 



A HISTOKY OF THE DIVISION OF VERTEBRATE 

 PALEONTOLOGY IN THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL 

 MUSEUM 



By Charles W. Gilmore 



The National Museum's Division of Vertebrate Paleontology, a 

 branch of the Department of Geology, has had a long and distinguished 

 record of service to the Nation and to science. In the pages that fol- 

 low there is presented for the first time an extended history of this 

 Division, beginning vrith the establishment of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution in 1846 and covering a span of more than 90 years (including 

 the year 1940) . The account describes the beginnings and growth of 

 the Division and shows to what extent it has f uljBlled its mission as a 

 national institution in assembling, caring for, and rendering available 

 to both students and the general public the fossil specimens entrusted 

 to its keeping. 



The data included have been compiled from an exhaustive search of 

 the early records of the Smithsonian Institution, as well as an exami- 

 nation of its published papers and annual reports, supplemented by 

 information resulting from the writer's 37 years of service in the Di- 

 vision (1903-40). In order to make the record as complete as possi- 

 ble, all phases of its development, organization, personnel, explorations, 

 exhibits, and records are discussed. 



I wish to express my great appreciation for the assistance rendered 

 by many members of the National Museum staff, and especially to thank 

 Dr. Charles Schuchert, of the Peabody Museum, Yale University, for 

 reading the manuscript and offering many helpful criticisms. As the 

 only surviving member of the Department of Geology of the period 



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