98 EEPOET OF ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



proved. The telephones, now in every department, afford opportunities 

 of commnnication through the central office, which is in operation night 

 and day. Wires have been carried from the central office to the resi- 

 dences of the Director and some of his principal assistants. 



The public-comfort rooms for ladies and men, in the southeast pavil- 

 ion of the new building, have been open since the time of the inaugura- 

 tion ball in March, 1881. 



The visitors' book for 1880 shows 24,000 entries. These are believed 

 to represent at least 150,000 visitors, it being a matter of observation 

 that only about 10 per cent, of the visitors enter their names. A regis- 

 tering-machine is now in use, by which a careful record of the number 

 of visitors is kept. 



Plans for the better arrangement and preservation of the archives of 

 the Museum have been perfected j and a large room in the northwest 

 j)avilion has been set apart as an archive-room. Here it is intended to 

 concentrate all the papers illustrating the history of the Museum. In 

 adjoining rooms will be stored the duplicate printed labels and samples 

 of apparatus and other materials used in the Museum. 



A job printing press, with an assortment of type, for printing labels 

 and circulars, has been j)urchased during the year, with the view of sav- 

 ing time and affording opportunities for experimenting in the prepara- 

 tion of exhibition labels, which has hitherto been imi^racticable. All 

 considerable jobs of j)rinting are, however, as heretofore, done at the 

 Government Printing Office. 



Publications. — There has been much activity during the year in the 

 direction of scientific investigation, and a considerable number of books 

 and pai3ers have been published by the officers, a list of which publica- 

 tions will be found in the bibliographical appendix, together with a list 

 of papers, relating to the government collections, published by others 

 than officers of the Museum. A number of important memoirs are in 

 preparation — some of them already in the press — which cannot be in- 

 cluded in the bibliography of 1881, but are referred to in a second sup- 

 plement containing announcements of works in preparation. 



In accordance with a rule of the Museum recently announced, officers 

 of the Museum, or others, intending to use Museum material in the 

 preparation of memoirs are required to file with the Director of the 

 Museum a statement of their intention. This step has been found 

 necessary in order to avoid collisions of interests. 



It is intended at an early date to complete the Bibliographical His- 

 tory of the Museum — a work commenced some years ago by the present 

 Director. This will form an exhaustive index to all that has been 

 written concerning the government collection. 



A bibliography of the publications of Prof. S. F. Baird, now in press, 

 will serve as a first installment to this work, and in this connection is 

 particularly appropriate, since he was really the first to begin the proper 

 utilization of the material of the Museum. 



