12 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1903. 



AN ADDITIONAr, MUSEUM BUILDING. 



For over two decades a few paragraphs in this report have been 

 auiiually devoted to an account of the crowded and unsafe condition 

 of the national collections, and the consequent impossibility of further 

 complyino- with the law for their proper classification, arranoement, and 

 care. " Fortunately these conditions are soon to be remedied through 

 the erection of an additional building, having a capacity far exceeding 

 that of the existing structures combined, wdth exhibition halls to the 

 extent of nearly 5 acres, and facilities for all kinds of museum work. 



In the last report it was announced that Congress had authorized 

 the preparation of plans for this new building, which was to be con- 

 structed of brick and terra cotta at a limit of cost of $1,500,000, and 

 to occupy a site on the north side of the Mall opposite the Smith- 

 sonian Institution. Such a building, though large enough to relieve 

 the immediate demands for additional space, would provide very 

 inadequately for the growth of the collections, and the material named 

 for the fronts w^as not considered entirely suitable for a structure of 

 the character proposed. Nearly a year was occupied in examining 

 into the requirements of the collections and in studying the principal 

 features of other museums. During the winter of 1902-3, a series 

 of tentative plans was prepared, and accompanied by a supplementary 

 report Ijy the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution was submitted 

 to a special committee consisting of the Congressional Regents, "to 

 represent to Congress the pressing needs of additional room for the 

 proper exhibition of specimens belonging to the National Museum." 

 On January 23, 1903, the same papers were transmitted to Congress 

 and printed as Document 314 of the House of Kepresentatives. 



The plans provided for a large rectangular building, four stories 

 high including the basement, which was to be in all essential features 

 the equivalent of a story, well lighted and entirely serviceable for 

 museum purposes. The cost of the whole building, constructed of 

 brick and terra cotta, was estimated at $3,000,000, but one-half of the 

 structure, in symmetrical form, could be built for $1,500,000, thus 

 meeting the requirements of the act of 1902. The special committee 

 of the Regents above mentioned adopted the report of the Secretary, 

 though urging the larger building, in the following resolution: 



That under the limitations of the law the committee hereby report to Congress Plan 

 B for a new National Museum building as the best obtainable for the amount men- 

 tioned; but, in the judgment of the committee, the larger plan, A, is believed to be 

 the one which should be adopted, and we therefore ask that Congress shall make 

 the appropriation for it instead of for the smaller plan. 



Hearings followed before the Committees on Appropriations of 

 both the House and Senate, and a plea was made for the use of granite 

 instead of brick and terra cotta. The House took no action, but a bill 



