JOURNAL OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE SMITHSONIAN 



INSTITUTION. 



Washington, D. C, January 24, 1877. 



A meeting of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution 

 was held this day at 7 o'clock p. m. in the office of the Secretary. 



Present, Chief- Justice Waite, Chancellor of the Institution ; Hou. H. 

 Hamlin, Hon. J. W. Stevenson, Hon. H. Clymer, Hon. G. W. McCrary, 

 Hon. Peter Parker, Hon. George Bancroft, Prof. Asa Gray, and Pro- 

 fessor Henry, the Secretary. 



The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. 



Excuses for non-attendance were received from Professors Dana and 

 Coppee. 



Tbe Secretary presented a general exhibit of the condition of the 

 fund and the receipts and expenditures for the year 1876. He stated 

 that to save time these statements and all the accounts of the Institu- 

 tion had been referred by him to the executive committee, who were 

 prepared to report at the present meeting. 



Dr. Parker, in behalf of the executive committee, presented the an- 

 nual report of the receipts, expenditures, estimates, &c. 



On motion of Mr. Hamlin, the report was adopted. 



The Secretary called the attention of the Board to the great increase 

 of the National Museum during the past year from specimens pro- 

 cured from the appropriation by Congress for the Centennial, from the 

 donations of States of the Union, from individuals, and from foreign 

 governments. He stated that for the exhibition of these articles an ad- 

 ditional space of four times that afforded by the present Smithsonian 

 edifice would be required ; that therefore an additional building was 

 absolutely necessary, and as this could not be erected out of the Smith- 

 sou fund, an appropriation from Congress must be asked for. 



On motion of Dr. Parker, the following preamble and resolution were 

 adopted, and the Secretary was instructed to transmit them to Congress : 



Whereas Congress, in the organization of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, directed that it should make provision on a liberal scale for a 

 museum to contain all the objects of natural history and of curious and 

 foreign research, then belonging to or hereafter to belong to the United 

 States Government : and 



Whereas, in accordance with this direction, the Institution has devel- 

 oped and for many years principally supported this national museum, 

 the collection being the property of the Government, while the build- 

 ing was erected for their accommodation at a cost of $500,000, out of 

 the income of tbe Smithson fund ; and 



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