STUDIES ON MUSKUMS AND KINDRKU INSTITUTIONS. 419 



A Guide appeared in lt»0(i, in its sixth edition. ITt) pa«^es, with many 

 plans; it could be made more useful to the visitor by indexes. From 

 the sixth annual report, forming a volume of 512 pages, with 51 plates, 

 together with the Guide and a little pamphlet entitled An Historical 

 and Descriptive Account of the Field Columbian Museum. 90 pages, 

 with illustrations and plans, a good idea can be obtained of the origin 

 and condition of this great museum. 



The library contains 24,000 volumes, and is excellently catalogued 

 upon cards alphabetically and systematically arranged according to 

 Dewey's system somewhat modified (see p. 399 of this paper). 

 There is even a topical catalogue of the most important papers in 

 scientific journals and in the publications of scientific societies — an 

 unusual but very useful thing. The library also has a duplicate card 

 catalogue of the John Crerar Library (see p. I'ol), with 23,000 titles, 

 arranged alphabetically with its own cards — an excellent plan for the 

 scientific worker in Chicago. 



The catalogues of the collection are kept in the most scrupulous, 

 careful, and exemplary order, for which purpose extra clerks are re- 

 quired. In the archives are preserved all the original documents of 

 the collections, which are each provided with a permanent number, 

 and receipts are alwa^'s taken when these documents are delivered to 

 one of the department employees. Besides, the registers are kept in 

 books and on cards. Up to October, 1900, there were 94 volumes 

 of the catalogue, with 215,000 entries, as well as 75,000 cards." 



The method of cataloguing, to which I paid especial attention in the 

 anthropological dei)artment, is as follows:* Every newly acquired col- 

 lection, immediately upon its arrival, is assigned a number and given 

 an accession card. This card bears, in addition to a serial number, the 

 name of the collector, the manner of acquisition of the collection bv 

 the museum, the place and date of the collection, the numbers assigned 

 to the specimens, and a general statement of the nature of the collec- 

 tion. This card, together with any lists or correspondence that relate 

 to the collection, is deposited in a stout envelope made for the pur- 

 pose, which also bears the name of the accession. This envelope forms 

 part of the historical Hie of the department. Both accession card and 

 envelope, together with all correspondence, are made out in duplicate, 

 one set being retained in the ofiice of the curator, the other being sent 

 to the recorder's ofiice. Fach object in the collection is then num- 

 bered to correspond with the number on a card which bears the name 

 of the ol)ject, with a drawing of the same if deemed necessary, the 

 tribe or locality whence the specimen came, the name of the collector, 



"Seethe American A)ilJn-oi)ologi.'<t, n. s, I, 1899, p. 47.S. 



''In America evervMiinjic, as one may say, is registered ujion canlhoanl of detiiiite 

 size, and the catalojiues are tiierefore ealled "eard catalojiues." This "card cata- 

 logue system" is excee(Iinirly practical. 



