NATIONAL MUSEUM BUELDINGS. 293 



in drawers and on shelves. Yet their extent is so great that the question of their 

 accomniodatioii is one of the most important ones for consideration. Tliey have 

 lit't'n mainly derived from the Government surveys of the past sixty years and rep- 

 resent a very large expenditure of pulilic money. 



For the activities of the Museum are needed many well-lighted and well-appointed 

 rooms to serve as laboratories for classifying collections and for scientific research 

 and as workshops for the prejiaration of specimens for study and for exhibition. It 

 sliould be noted in this connection that tiie Museum is called ujjon to furnish work- 

 rooms for several of the scientific bureaus, whose collections are partly studied there, 

 and that, by a recent act of Congress, it is incumbent upon the Musemu U) pro\ide 

 facilities for such students and investigators from any part of the country as may 

 choose to visit it for purposes of research. 



Finally, space must be provided for certain general and miscellaneous purposes, 

 such as the mechanical workshops and storerooms, the heating plant, public-comfort 

 rooms, the library, a lecture hall, the administrative offices, etc. 



An estimate of the amount of space needed ha.* been reached by a careful consid- 

 eration of the several requirements as set forth below, namely: 



(1) To relieve the present very congested condition of the exhibition halls. 



(2) To provide for the display of f)bjects now in storage which are suitaljle and 

 intended for public exhibition. 



(3) Convenient and systematic storage for the vast reserve or record collections, 

 which are now for the most part inaccessible for examination. 



(4) Suitable scientific lal)oratories, preparators' workshops, etc. 



(5) The mechanical worksho{)S required in making repairs to buildings and in the 

 construction and repair of cases and other furniture and fixtures. 



(6) Offices necessary for administrative and other purposes common to all the 

 branches of the Museum. 



(7) The space required for the heating plant, the library, a lecture hall, public- 

 comfort rooms, and other miscellaneous purposes. 



(8) Provision for future growth. The limitation of cost fixed by the sundry civil 

 appropriation act of June 28, 1902, prevents the carrying out of any extravagant 

 views in this regard; and if the building erected have only the area contemplated by 

 the plans svabmitted the National Museum will again be crowded and in need of 

 room certainly before the end of another ten years and probably of five years. 



The growth of the Museum for a number of years past has been mainly through 

 the receii)t of material whii-h by law it must receive and care for. The amount of 

 material declined or diverted elsewhere during the last ten or fifteen years because of 

 the lack of room would have occupied a very large proportion of the present exhi- 

 bition space and have greatly increased the money value of the collections. The 

 same c*onditions have prevented the Museum authorities from soliciting large contri- 

 butions, Imt with adequate facilities many extensive exhil>it,s can be had for the 

 asking. The department of arts and industries, the more ]>ractical side of the 

 Museum, has perhaps sufferetl most from the lack of accommodations, l^arge exhibits 

 have had to be removed to storage, and the growth of this most important and 

 striking branch was necessarily stojiped some time ago. It should l)e made here, as 

 it has l)een in all the larger cai)itals of the world, one of the most important features 

 of tlie national collections, and its increase, once stimulated, would go forward rap- 

 idly and at relatively small expense, as generous donations might l)e exjiei-ted from 

 all quarters. 



Using the above topics as a basis for calculations, the amount of space imme- 

 diately required has been worked out for each of the departments. This information 

 is summarized in the following table, which gives also for each sul)ject the space 

 now ot'cu]>ied. With regard to the present storage areas, it should be borne in mind 



