REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 13 



The collections of the JSTatioiial Museum are made up to a very lar^e 

 extent of the following- materials: 



1. The natural history and anthropological collections accumu- 

 lated since 1850 by the efforts of the officers and correspondents of 

 the Smithsonian Institution. 



2. Collections which have resulted from explorations carried on 

 more or less directly under the auspices of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution, or resulting from explorations carried on by the Smithsonian 

 Institution in connection with educational institutions or commercial 

 establishments. 



3. Collections which have been obtained through the courtesy of 

 the Department of State and the cooperation of United States 

 ministers and consuls. 



4. The collection of the Wilkes Exploring Expedition, the Perry 

 Expedition to Japan, and other naval expeditions. 



5. Collections made by the scientific officers of Government sur- 

 veys, such as the Pacific llailroad Survey, the Mexican Bound- 

 ary Snrvey, and the surveys carried on by the Engineer Corps of 

 the United States Army and by officers of the Signal Corps of the 

 United States Army stationed in remote regions. 



6. Collections obtained by the United States Geological Survey, 

 the United States Fish Commission, and those resulting from the 

 activities of the United States Department of Agriculture and 

 other departments of the Government. 



7. The remnant of the collections of the old "Is'^ational Institute." 



8. The collections made by the United States to illustrate the 

 animal and mineral resources, the fisheries, and the ethnology of 

 the native races of the country on the occasion of the Centennial 

 Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876; the fishery collections displayed 

 by the United States at the International Fisheries Exhibition at 

 Berlin in 1880 and at London in 1883, and the collections obtained 

 from various local expositions, as, for instance, the ^exv Orleans 

 Cotton Centennial Exposition in 1884 and 1885, the Cincinnati 

 Exposition in 1887, and the World's Columbian Exposition in 

 1893. 



9. The collections given by the Governments of the several foreign 

 nations, thirty in number, which participated in the exhibition at 

 Philadelphia in 187G. 



10. The industrial collections given by numerous manufacturing 

 and commercial houses of Europe and America at the time of the 

 Philadelphia Exhibition and subsequently. 



11. The materials received from mnseums in Europe and America 

 in exchange for dnplicate specimens. 



12. Collections received as gifts, deposits, or in exchange from 

 individuals, numbering usually from 1,000 to 1,500 each year. 



The publications of the Museum consist of — 



1. The Annual Eeport. 



2. The Proceedings of the National Museum. 



3. The Bulletin of the National Museum. 



4. The series of circulars. 



Papers by members of the Museum staff' based upon the collections 

 have been printed in every scientific periodical in the United States 

 and in many of those of Europe. 



