H^ REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1903. 



Many ocllections have, from time to time, been transferred by the 

 Gcokx-'ical Survey, the Fish Commission, the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, iuul other iManches of the Government to the custody of the 

 I^IuscHun in advance of their iinal working- up, in order to provide for 

 their safe storage and to secure the better facilities for study here 

 afforded. Under this arrangement the amount of research work car- 

 ried on in the ^Museum buikling has been greatly increased. 



Though having litth' means to expend for field work, members of 

 the Museum statF are occasionally given opportunities to participate 

 in the explorations of other Government luireaus or of private expedi- 

 tions, in connection with which special researches may be carried on, 

 though the cliief ad\antage results from the acquisition of new and 

 valual)le material and a knowledge of the conditions under which it 

 occurred in natui'c. 



AS AX EDUCATIONAL MUSEUM. 



The educational side of the Museum is intended to consist mainly 

 of an exhibition of all the classes of objects which it represents, so 

 mounted, installed, and labeled as to directly interest and instruct the 

 general public. The principal difficulty incident to the proper instal- 

 lation of such a collection, conceding all the space required, lies in the 

 selection of its parts, so that while enough is displayed to convc}^ the 

 amount of information which it is intended to impart, the visitor shall 

 not be overburdened or confused with details. While this policy is 

 being followed in the National Museum so far as its means permit, 

 the lack of room has always prevented a complete or satisfactory 

 development of the plan, and every succeeding year the conditions in 

 this respect glow worse instead of better through the increased crowd- 

 ing of the halls. The advances in recent years have been chiefly in 

 the methods of display, in the character of individual and group 

 mountings, and in the labeling, in all of which directions exceptional 

 progress has been made. 



Two years ago it was announced that all of the halls designed for 

 public use were then for the first time permanently open, though none 

 were above addition or improvement, while in some the arrangement 

 was entirely provisional. This was only accomplished by the transfer 

 of large quantities of material to outside storage, but during the past 

 year it has unfortunately been again necessary to shut ofi' one of the 

 most attractive halls in order to furnish increased space for work- 

 rooms. 



In this connection it seems appropriate to refer to the work of 

 Doctor Goode, than whom no museum administrator ever had a better 

 understanding of the public needs. He labored earnestly and con- 

 scientiously to make this a museum for as well as of the people, and 

 the plans now being carried out are, in all their essential features, of 

 his making. While the assistants might be relied upon to arrange and 



