APPENDIX X. 



The Work of the Mechanics and Laborers. 



The following is an abstract of the report of the suj)erintendent of 

 buildings, Mr. Henry Horan, so far as it relates to the work of the 

 mechanics and laborers. 



1895. 



July. — Repairs were made in the south tower and in other portions of the 

 Smithsonian building. Several crates of cases were brought from storage and 

 packed for shipment to the Cotton States and International Exposition at 

 Atlanta. Exhibits from the departments of minerals and paleontology were 

 shipped to the Exposition during the month. In the room adjoining the dynamo 

 room the floor was lowered and a large brick column removed. 



August. — The cases containing material for the Atlanta Exposition w^ere placed 

 in the storage sheds south of the Smithsonian building as soon as jjacked, to await 

 shipment, and later 117 boxes and crates were forwarded. A number of push 

 buttons, connected with the annunciator in the telephone room, were placed at 

 different points in the Miiseum building. The collection of the section of physical 

 apiDaratus was removed from the cases on the first floor of the south tower of the 

 Smithsonian building, and a portion of the instruments placed on exhibition in 

 the east hall of the Museum. Workmen were engaged for several days in taking 

 the boats from the ceiling in the hall where they are exhibited, measuring them, 

 and returning them to their former positions. 



September. — The work of shipping exhibits to the Atlanta Exposition was com- 

 pleted early in the month. The lecture hall was thoroughly cleaned, new matting 

 laid, etc. The sheds in the rear of the Smithsonian Institution were painted. 

 New book-cases were made and placed in the oflBce of the Assistant Secretary. 

 In many places the worn-out floors of the Museum were taken up and replaced 

 with new material. All the large cases were moved from the rotunda, and small 

 ones containing models of cliff-dwellings placed therein. Several new fire-plugs 

 were placed in the grounds near the buildings. A chimney-flue was constructed 

 from the second floor to the roof of the northwest pavilion. 



October. — The floors in the offices of the Assistant Secretary and chief clerk were 

 planed and cleaned. Wires were run to connect a signal bell in the department 

 of materia medica with the telephone room, and the wires running from the 

 Museum to the Department of Agriculture were overhauled. The top of the old 

 well south of the Smithsonian Institution was arched over with brick. A new 

 telephone instrument was put up in the office of the superintendent. The door- 

 way leading from the vestibule to the stairway on the first floor of the northwest 

 pavilion was altered, the opening being enlarged to a wide archway. Steam pipes 

 were run from the boilers in the Smithsonian building to the east end of the shed 

 just outside. The telephone wires were disconnected from the overhead cable and 

 connected to the underground cable. The vestibule of the northwest entrance 

 was wainscoated. 



November. — Two radiators were placed in one of the sheds, and the pipe coils 

 altered and improved. Water pipes were also placed in the same shed and a sink 

 constructed. The lecture hall was put in readiness for the meeting of the Amer- 

 ican Ornithologists' Union. A radiator was placed in one of the rooms adjoining 



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