REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 57 



of the vaiioLi.s divisions had been kept quite independenth' of and with- 

 out sufficient regard to each othei-, and in many cases the work was 

 ver\' imperfectly done, owing to lack of sufficient assistance. Under 

 the present administration an attempt is being made to centralize and 

 harmonize the work of cataloguing. This will, however, involve the 

 rewriting of probably 200,000 entries as well as much careful over- 

 hauling- of the records, and is a work which we can not hope to accom- 

 plish within several years. It is the intention of the head curator to 

 give particular attention to this work during the coming year. 



The department has now arrived at that stage in the building up of 

 its collections where a proportionately small amount of material of 

 value is received in the form of donations. If, therefore, the collec- 

 tions are to be systematic and well balanced, a considerable amount of 

 mone}' must be available for purposes of purchase. This is a matter 

 which has been repeatedly urged and needs no further mention. 



