KEPOET OF THE SECRETAEY. 29 



the ITatioiial Museum as its waixl, and five siuce tlio Museum has had 

 a shelter exclusively its own and an appropriation in any way adequate 

 to the necessities of its administrative work. With the year 1880 be- 

 gan an epoch in the history of the Museum, siuce at this time Congress 

 saw fit to recognize the claims of the Museum by increasing the appro- 

 priations for its preservation and installation from $45,000 to $145,000. 



Their responsibility in the matter they had, however, recognized in 

 1879 by appropriating $250,000 for the construction of a fire-proof build- 

 ing. The claims of the Museum to increased support had been before 

 them for three or four years, ever since, indeed, bj their own act, in 

 connection with the preparations for the participation of the Govern- 

 ment Departments in the International Exposition in Philadelphia, and 

 t-he valuable gifts of foreign Governments upon that occasion, the 

 Smithsonian building had been filled to overflowing with unassorted 

 material of the highest value for educational and scientific uses. 



Thirteen years ago, as Assistant Secretary, I pointed out in my report 

 to the Secretary of the Institution that the annual growth of the Mu- 

 seum was undoubtedly greater than that of any other in the world ; 

 that is, so far as the accession of great masses of material was con- 

 cerned. The increase at present is much greater than formerly, but 

 the accessions are much more manageable, owing to the larger number 

 of assistants employed. For twenty years the Assistant Secretary of 

 the Smithsonian Institution, with the help of one or two laborers and 

 such students as happened to volunteer their aid, performed all the 

 duties of curatorship of the national collections. It was not until 1874 

 that a special staff of Museum assistants was recognized, with duties 

 apart from the executive work of the Institution, and not until 1875 that 

 the office of curator was established, that office being held by the as- 

 sistant secretary from 1875 to 1878. Up to 1880 there was still but one 

 curator, with a number of " assistants," but during that year an execu- 

 tive officer, with the grade of assistant director, was appointed, and the 

 five principal assistants in the Museam were designated curators. The 

 present organization of the personnel, then, dates back only five years, 

 to the time when preparations were being made for taking possession 

 of the new building. 



The staff", as now organized, consists of two classes, the scientific offi- 

 cers or curators, and the administrative officers ; the former reporting 

 to the Director of the Museum, the latter to the assistant director, who 

 also has general supervision of the administrative work of the curators. 



There are at present 28 curatorships, some of which are divided, so 

 that the number of heads of departments or sub-departments is 2G, 

 and the total number of men in the scientific staff 30, of whom 13 are in 

 the pay of the Museum, and the others are honorary, some being detailed 

 for this duty by the Director of the Geological Survey, by the Director 

 of the Bureau of Ethnology, others by the Commissioner of Fish and 

 Fisheries, and by the Secretary of the Navy, two being volunteers. It 



