Pt E P O R T 



UPON 



THE CONDITION AND PROGRESS OF THE U. "S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 

 DURING THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1895. 



BY 



G. Brown Goode, 

 Assiistant Secretary, Smithsonian Institution, in ckar<ic of U. S. Xational Museum. 



L— GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



By act of Congress passed in 1846 the Smithsonian Institution became 

 the only lawful place of deposit for " all objects of art and of foreign 

 and curious research, aiul all objects of natural history, plants, and 

 geological and mineralogical specimens belonging to the United States." 

 These collections have served as a nucleus for the National Museum 

 of the XTnited States. For many years this Museum was supported 

 entirely at the expense of the Smithsou fund, and a considerable por- 

 tion of the collections is the property of the Institution through gift or 

 purchase. 



A "museum" has been defined by Professor Huxley as " a consultative 

 library of objects." Not only is the National Museum such a consulta- 

 tive library, but it is an agency for the instruction of the people of the 

 whole country. It keei)S in mind the needs of those whose lives are not 

 occupied in the study of science, as well as of the teacher and the skilled 

 investigator. Its benefits are extended without cost or reserve to luiu- 

 dreds of thousands of visitors from all parts of the United States who 

 enter its halls every year, and through the distribution of the duplicate 

 specimens in the Museum, made up into sets and accurately named, to 

 public institutions in all parts of the country. 



Among the most important features of the operations of the Museum 

 during the year may be mentioned the reorganization of the exhibits in 

 several of the departments, notably in the departments of mammals 

 and prehistoric anthropology. Entire rearrangement of these collec- 

 tions has been effected, with a very gratifying result. 



A large number of the curators have been necessarily engaged in the 

 preparation of exhibits for the Atlanta Exposition. This work lias^ of 



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