REPOIIT UPON THE CONDITION AND PROGRESS OF THE UNITED STATKS 

 NATIONAL MUSEUM DURING THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE ;}(!, 

 1886. 



In tlie report now presented, which relates to the year ending witli 

 June 30, 1886, it was my intention to have presented a general review 

 of the history of the Museum, and of its several departments. The 

 l)ublication of this historical sketch will, however, be reserved for pre- 

 sentation at some future time. 



The name i^itional, Museum was used in the Smithsonian Eeports 

 as early as 1808, though it was not until after the erection of the new 

 building had been determined upon that this designation seems to have 

 been actually adopted by Congress. It was without doubt the pur- 

 pose of Congress, as early as 184:6, that a national museum should be 

 established in Washington, and that it should be placed under the ad- 

 ministrative direction of the Smithsonian Institution, then just organ- 

 ized. Such was manifestly the intention of the act of incorporation 

 passed in that year, by which it was provided that " all objects of art 

 and of foreign and curious research, and all objects of natural history, 

 plants, and geological and mineralogical specimens belonging or here- 

 after to belong to the United States, which may be in the city of Wash- 

 ington," should be delivered to the Eegents of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution, and, together with the new specimens obtained by exchange, 

 donation, or otherwise, should be so arranged and classified as best to 

 facilitate their examination and study.* 



It was not until 1858 that the actual custody of the "National Cabi- 

 net" was assumed by the Kegents, and appropriations were made by 

 Congress for its maintenance. During the twenty-three years which 

 followed, the collections were greatly increased and were made the 

 subjects of numerous important memoirs upon the natural history and 

 ethnology of America. The public halls, with their arrangements for 

 the exhibition of a portion of the collections, also received a due share 

 of attention, and a reasonable amount of instruction and pleasure was 

 afforded to visitors. The appropriations however were small, the space 

 limited, and the staff so inadequate, that little could be done except to 

 keep the collections in a good state of preservation. 



* An act to establish the Smithsonian Institution " for the increase and diffusion of 

 knowledire among ukmi." (Approved August 10, 184G ; Revised Statutes, Title LXIII. 

 sections r>r)79-5o94. ) See also Revised Statutes, section OoSG, and Statutes Forty- 

 tifth Congress, third session, chap. 18:3, p. 894. 



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