UPON 



TIIK ('UM)ITI(IN AM) PKOCIIESS Ol' Till": V. S. NATIONAL MISEIM 

 DURING THK VEAK KNDINC JUNE 3(1, 1897. 



BY 



Chaklks D. Walcott, 

 Act'ivij Assistant Secretary, Smithnoiiian ln><titi(tioii, in rharyc of U. S. \alional ^fll8^ urn. 



I.— GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



It was my good fortune to be associated with tlie late Dr. (1. Brown 

 Goode for many years, botli as a friend and as an Honorary Curator of 

 the National Museum, with a laboratory in the Museum building. We 

 were thus in (jontinuous social and professional intercourse for a period 

 of fourteen years, and during this time 1 became well ac(]uainted with 

 the great work that he was doing, and obtained a fairly clear c.tnception 

 of the history, present condition, and, to a certain extent, future needs 

 of the M useum. Nevertheless, when, after Professor Goode's death, the 

 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Dr. S, P, Langiey, recjuested 

 me to take temporary charge of the ^luseum, it was only after much 

 hesitancy that I concluded to assume the responsibility, my reluctance 

 arising (-hietly from the fear that, owing to ofhcial duties previously 

 assumed, the comparatively small amount of time that 1 could devote 

 to the Museum would uot suttice for the proi)er care and advancement 

 of its interests. However, I took charge of the Museum in .lanuary, 

 1897, and ray liope that the cooperation and supi)ort of the othcers and 

 assistants (;onnected with tiie Museum would be so large and so effi- 

 cient as satisfactorily to su[)plement my own labors, has been realized. 



In a conversation had with Dr. Goode a few weeks before his death 

 I learned that he wished to make more or less of a reorganization of 

 the ^luseum staff' and collections, and had he lived there is no doubt 

 that this would have been done at an early day, on lines that he had 

 already outlined in various papers. Soon after taking charge 1 made 

 a thorough investigation of the personnel and organization of the 

 Museum, and made a number of recommendations to the Secretary, 

 whi(;]i were approved ami went into ellect July 1. is:t7. The classifica- 

 tion iu force prior to that date, printed in the body of this reiiort, had 



