24 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1898. 



numerous reproductions of objects of interest, in plaster, have been 

 made. 



Notwithstanding the large number of accessions and their undoubted 

 yalue, it should be noted that the results of the year's collection are not 

 wholly satisfactory. The meagerness of funds for j^urchase has made 

 it impossible to secure some of the most important collections offered, 

 and as no provision is made for exploration and systematic expert col- 

 lection, it is found that, save for the occasional well-ordered collections 

 donated or transferred, the acquisitions are fragmentary and lack the 

 detailed data so essential to the student engaged in research. 



PRESERVATION OF COLLECTIONS. 



Following the acquisition of museum materials are various steps 

 looking to their preservation. The collections for the year have been 

 accessioned, recorded, and marked as usual, and have been stored or 

 placed in the study or exhibition series by the curators. The depart- 

 ment suffers much inconvenience from lack of space and facilities 

 for handling the collections. Instead of a well-ordered laboratory in 

 which to open, spread out, examine, compare, and classify specimens as 

 they arrive or as subsequent resea^rch goes on, small portions of the 

 exhibition halls have been screened off for the purpose, thus interfering 

 with installation, and often rendering hasty removals and premature 

 storage necessary. At the close of the year one entire gallery is 

 devoted to laboratory uses and is thus necessarily closed to the public. 

 I regard the lack of laboratory space as extremely detrimental to the 

 interests of the department. 



A large part of the ethnological collections require expert attention 

 on their arrival in the Museum. They are unclean and infested with 

 destructive insects, and experienced preparators are required for clean- 

 ing and preserving. The latter work is carried on in a small shop in 

 an outbuilding. This is very inconvenient and requires the removal of 

 the collections to be treated from the Museum building to one which 

 is by no means a safe repository for valuable specimens. 



The question of storage of material has arisen many times during the 

 year, and numerous collections have been removed to storage. The 

 exhibition halls, although much less crowded than at the beginning of 

 the year, still contain more material than can be properly exhibited. 

 The total surplus is, therdfore, very great. The present exhibits occupy 

 60,000 square feet of space, the entire floor space of the Museum being 

 only about 100,000 feet. The anthropological collections properly 

 installed would fill the entire Museum building. 



CLASSIFICATION AND RESEARCH. 



The third important function of the department relates to the use of 

 the collections in conducting researches looking to exhibition and pub- 

 lication. All possible information relating to the specimens is secured, 



