EEPOET OF THE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF THE UNITED 

 STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM, FOR THE YEAR 1881. 



Prof. SrENCER F. Baird, 



Director United States National Museum : 



Sir: In compliance with your instructions, I submit a report upon 

 tlie present condition of the National Museum, and upon the work ac- 

 complished in its various departments during the year 1881. 



On the 1st of July, letters of appointment were issued by jou to all 

 the officers and employees of the Museum, and at this time I was assigned 

 to duty as executive officer of the Museum and curator of the depart- 

 ment of arts and industries. The new building was not, however, ready 

 for occupation until October, and the work of the year must bo regarded 

 as having been almost entirely of a preliminary nature. Owing to the 

 fact that the work of reorganization was begun so late in the year, and 

 that the curators of several departments did not enter upon their duties 

 until autumn, it has been found impossible to j) resent a special report 

 from each department. It is respectfully suggested that in future the 

 report of the assistant director shall relate to the work of the adminis- 

 trative department and other matters directly under his supervision, 

 and that the operations of the departments be reiJorted by the several 

 directors in charge. 



Very respectfully, 

 G. Brown Goode, 



Assistant Director, 



March 1, 1882. 



Periods in the history of the Museum. — The history of the National Mu- 

 seum may be divided into three periods : First, that from the foundation 

 of the Smithsonian Institution to 1857, during which time specimens 

 were collected purely and solely to serve as materials for research, no 

 special eflbrts being made to exhibit them to the public or to utilize 

 them except as a foundation for scientific descrii)tion and theory. Sec- 

 ond, the period from 1857, when the Institution assumed the custody of 

 the "National Cabinet of Curiosities," to 187G. During this period the 

 Museum became a place of deposit for scientific material, wliicli had 

 already been studied, this material, so far as convenient, being exhib- 

 ited to the public, and, so far as practicable, made to serve an educa- 

 tional purpose. Third, the present period, beginning in the year 1S7<», 

 in whicli interval the Museum has entered upon a career of active work, 

 in gathering collections and exhibiting them on account of their educa- 

 tional value. 



In the lirst period, the main object of the Museum was scientific re- 

 S. Mis. 100 G ^^ 



