NATIONAL MUSEUM BUILDINGS. 239 



collections of the Government in conformitj^ with the act establishing 

 the Institution. By this time all of the available space in the Smith- 

 sonian building was overcrowded with specimens, and the need of 

 additional, spacious quarters had suddenly' arisen, mainly through the 

 acquisition of exceedingly large collections of great value, donated to 

 the United States In' foreign governments and other exhibitors at the 

 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of ISTO. At their meeting of 

 rbinuary 24-, 1877, the question was under discussion ))y the Regents, 

 when, on motion of Doctor Parker, the following preamble and reso- 

 lution were adopted, and the Secretary was instructed to transmit 

 them to Congress: 



Whereas Congress, in tlie organization of the Smithsonian Institution, 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 l)elong to the United States Government; and 



Whereas, in accordance with this direction, the Institution has developed and for 

 many years principally supported this National Museum, the collection being 

 the property of the Government, while tlie building was erected for their accommo- 

 dation, at a cost of $500,000, out of the income of the Smithson fund; and 



Whereas, on account of the appropriations of Congress for a national exhibit at the 

 Centennial, and the liberal donations which have been made by several States of 

 the Union, by individuals, and especially by foreign governments, the National 

 INIuseum has suddenly increasecf to fourfold its previous dimensions and far beyond 

 the capacity of the Smithsonian building to contain it: Therefore, 



Resolved, That Congress be respectfully requested to provide accommodations for 

 these additional collections by the erection of a suitable building in connection with 

 the present Smithsonian edifice. 



This resolution was presented to the Senate on January 26, 1877, 

 and to the House of Representatives on February 2 of the same 3'ear, 

 being referred in the former bod}' to the Committee on Public 

 Buildings and Grounds and in the latter to the Committee on Appro- 

 priations. 



Under date of Februar}- 5, 1877, the Regents also transmitted to 

 Congress a memorial on the same subject, which, besides defining the 

 legal objects of the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution and the 

 origin and extent of its collections, contained the following paragraphs, 

 e(iually pertinent to the needs for added space: 



By an act bearing date July 31, 187(5, additional duties were laid upon the Smith- 

 sonian Institution as custodian, and $4,500 were appropriated "for repairing and fit- 

 ting up the so-called Armory building, on the Mall between Sixth and Seventh 

 streets, and to enable the Smithsonian Institution to store therein and to take care 

 of specimens of the extensive series of the ores of the precious metals, marbles, 

 building stones, coals, and numerous objects of natural history now on exhibition in 

 IMiiladelphia, including other o1)jectH of jiractical and economical value jiresented by 

 various foreign governments to the National INIuseuni. 



As a fruit of this act of th(! General (Jovermiient, the Smiths(mian Institution finds 

 itself the custodian of enormous collections that had been displayt'd at the Centen- 

 nial Exi)osition and on the closing of that exhibition had been presented to the 

 United States. These donations are made by individuals among our own citizens, 



