REPORT 



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

 DURING THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1901. 



Richard Rathbun, 

 Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, in, vhnnje <>/ C. S. National Miixeum. 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



Through the munificence of James Smithson, an Englishman, the 

 United States came into possession in 1838 of about half a million 

 dollars, to be used " for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among 

 men." 1 The wise counsels that prevailed in interpreting the provisions 

 of this bequest, a large one for that time, led to the employment of a 

 portion of the fund for founding a museum for the nation, universal 

 in its scope and usefulness. 



The authority for carrying out this purpose was embodied in the 

 Congressional act of 184*> establishing the Smithsonian Institution, 

 which directed that there be delivered to it, whenever suitable arrange- 

 ments could be made from time to time for their reception, "all 

 objects of art and of foreign and curious research, and all objects 

 of natural history, plants, and geological and mineralogical specimens 

 belonging to the United States." Provision was also made for the 

 growth of the collections by exchange, donation, or otherwise, and 

 for the arrangement and classification of the specimens in a manner 

 best to facilitate their examination and study. The first Board of 

 Regents, upon which devolved the task of effecting a definite plan of 

 organization for the Institution, expressed its concurrence in this 

 feature in the following resolution, passed in January, 1847: 



Resolved, That it is the intention of theact of Congress, and in accordance with tin- 

 design of Mr. Smithson, as expressed in his will, that one of the principal modes of 

 executing the act and the trust is the accumulation of collections of specimens and 

 ohjects of natural history and of elegant art, and the gradual formation of a library 

 of valuable works pertaining to all departments of human knowledge, to the end that 

 a copious storehouse of materials of science, literature, and art may be provided, 

 which shall excite and diffuse the love of learning among men, and shall assist tin- 

 original investigations and effortsof those who may devote themselves to the pursuit 

 of any branch of knowledge. 



