NATIONAL MUSP:ITM BUILDINGS. 225 



For rniisliin>j and completing th(^ furnii^hing of the eastern portion of the Smithso- 

 nian Institution huililing, $5,600. (Sundry civil act for 1886.) 



In his report for 1884 Secretary Baird announced the expenditure 

 of the appropriation of $15,000 in fitting up the two upper stories of 

 the building-, which had been necessarily left unfinished for lack of 

 funds. This included the introduction of iron furring and iron lathing 

 for the ceilings immediately under the roof, and the fitting up of many 

 of the rooms for their special requirements. The rooms in the recon- 

 structed portion were then all occupied for the general purposes of 

 the Institution, notably the departments of administration, of interna- 

 tional and miscellaneous exchanges, of the reference library, of trans- 

 portation, and of publication, the chemical laboratory, etc. 



In transferring the offices back to the east end considerable changes 

 were made in the lower hall of the main building, including the 

 removal of all exhibition cases in the galleries, which have since been 

 used exclusively for laboratory and storage purposes by several 

 departments of zoolog3\ Telephones, speaking tubes, an accurate 

 time service, and other minor conveniences were also introduced at the 

 eastern end. 



The report of the Secretary for 1885 notes the completion of the 

 alterations in the east wing and corridor in a thoroughl}^ fireproof 

 manner, with twice the original number of available oflice rooms, and 

 with every facility for doing the work mentioned in the best possible 

 manner. It also calls attention to the unsightl}' and dilapidated con- 

 dition of the remainder of the building, used by the Museum, which 

 will soon require extensive repairs. 



In accordance with estimates subuiitted, the sundry civil act for 

 1888 provided "for urgent and necessary repairs to central and west- 

 ern portions of the Smithsonian Institution building, $15,000." In a 

 letter to the chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, 

 dated December 11, 1886, and in his annual report for 1887, Secretary 

 Baird explained the reasons for the proposed changes, stating that 

 the floors, ceilings, and roof of the west corridor were the same as in 

 the original construction and not fireproof, being in fact very com- 

 Inistible. Nearly all of the large alcoholic collections of the National 

 Museum and the Fish Commission were in or adjacent to this part of 

 the building, so that should a fire break out it would result not only in 

 serious damage to the building, but also in the entire destruction of 

 extensive and valuable portions of the national collections. He also 

 called attention to the fact that, though the Smithsonian building was 

 constructed at the expense of the Smithsonian fund, it had since 1858 

 been almost wholly given over to the purposes of the l^ational 

 Museum. 



NAT MUS 1903 15 



