274 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1903. 



The report to the Senate Committee on Public Buildinu.s and (iround- 

 b3^ Secretary Langley, dated January 21, 1890, was mainly as follows: 



I send you herewith ii set of sketch plans intended to show, in a general way, the 

 extent and chararter of u Ixiilding such as would seem to be necessary for the aticoni- 

 inodation of the Museum collections in the present and immediate future, and respect- 

 fully reijuest for them your attention and a recommendation to Congress of the 

 necessary means for such a building. 



These plans and sketclu-sare provisional, hut although not presented in detail they 

 represent the results of studies, extending over many years, of the i)lans of the best 

 modern museum buildings in Europe and America, nearly all of wliich have been 

 inspected by officers of the Smithsonian Institution. 



The proposed building covers the same area as that finished in 1881. It is intended 

 to consist of two stories and a basement, except in the central portion, which consists 

 of one lofty hall open from the main floor to the roof, the height of which will be 

 !)0 feet, galleries l)eing placed on the level of the second floor in other parts of the 

 building. Its interior arrangements are, as you will see, different from those in the 

 actual Museum, all the changes having been ])laimed in the light of the experience 

 of nine years' occupation of the present building. It will afford between two and 

 three times as much available si)ace for exhibition and storage under the same area 

 of roof. The fifteen exhibition halls are completely isolated from each other, and 

 may readily be subdivided, when necessary, into smaller rooms. The light will be 

 as good as in the old building, and the ventilation ])erhaps still better. The sanitary 

 arrajigements have been carefully considered. 



The necessity for a basement is especially great. In this, place has been provided 

 for many storage rooms and workshops. The existence of a basement will promote 

 the comfort and health of visitors and employees, and by increasing the dryness of 

 the air in the exhibition halls will se»'ure the better preservation of the collections. 

 These proposed changes in the internal arrangements will not interfere with con- 

 formity with the other points of the present Museum building in the essential 

 features of exterior proi)ortion. The total capacity of this present building in avail- 

 able floor space is about 100,000 scpiare feet; that of the new building somewhat 

 exceeds 200,000. The present Museum building contains al)Out 80,000 feet of floor 

 space available for exhibition. That proposed will i-ontaiu about 103,300 squai-e feet 

 for exhil)ition. The space devoted to offices and laboratories would not be much 

 more, but the area available for exhibition halls, storage rooms, and workshops far 

 greater. The appropriation for the construction of the present building was $250,000. 



The estimates of cost on this building vary greatly with regard to details of con- 

 struction on which I do not here enter further than to say that the whole should be 

 absolutely fireproof throughout, and in view of the further great variation of the 

 cost of building materials within the past two years, T am not prepared to state the 

 sum which wouM be necessary for its completion. It is certain, however, that 

 $500,000, if not sutticient to complete it, would 1)e all that would he required to l)e 

 expended during the present year, and I would respectfidly rejiresent the desirability 

 of an appropriation of this amount for the purpose in question. 



Your attentif)n is directed to certain facts in regard to the character of the mate- 

 rials for the accommodation of which this building is desired. The collections of 

 the Smithsonian Institution and of the Government are especially rich in collections 

 of natural history, which may be grouped in three general classes: The zoological 

 collections, the botanical collections, and the geological collections, including not 

 only all the geological and mineralogical material, but the greater portion of that 

 belonging to i)aleontology, the study of fossil animals and plants forming an essential 

 part of modern geological work. 



