EXHIBIT AT PAN-AMERICAN EXPOSITION. 183 



and practically complete on the 1st of May. when many other pails of 

 the Exposition were in a backward condition. 



As in the case of previous expositions, the exhibit of the National 

 Museum far exceeded that of the other bureaus under the direction of 

 the Smithsonian Institution and of the Institution itself , and the greater 

 part of the total sum allotted was expended in its preparation. The 

 reason of this will be readily understood when it is recalled that the 

 Museum is continuously engaged in preparing permanent exhibits for 

 the public, and has greater responsibilities in this direction than any 

 other bureau of the Government. The proportion of the allotment 

 expended by the Museum can not be exactly stated, because the same 

 mechanics and preparators who were employed in connection with its 

 exhibits were also engaged for some time on the work of the other 

 bureaus of the Institution. No apportionment among the several 

 bureaus of the sum set aside by the Government board was necessary 

 or desirable, and none was made. 



The Bureau of American Ethnology made no separate exhibit on 

 this occasion, those features of its work which lend themselves to 

 exhibition being- shown through the agency of the Department of 

 Anthropology in the Museum. 



As in previous instances, the permanent collections, cases, and tix- 

 tures of the Museum were drawn upon as far as circumstances would 

 permit, but some new cases were found indispensable, and numerous 

 specimens were purchased to till out the various series which it was 

 finally determined to exhibit at Buffalo. 



The temporary cases constructed for the Exposition were of pine, 

 painted black, and furnished with plate glass. These comprised group 

 cases for tin 1 Department of Anthropology and wall cases and one or 

 two special cases for the Departments of Biology and Geology. The 

 regular mahogany Museum cases used were of t ho styles known as 

 "reconstructed door screens" and "slope tops." 



As may be surmised, the regular staff of the Museum can not be 

 drawn upon beyond a certain limit to prepare collections for a tem- 

 porary exposition. The regular work of the Museum goes on hand 

 in hand with the special exposition work, and the principal officers of 

 the Museum devote a share of their time to each, but it is necessary 

 to augment the staff of preparators. taxidermists, etc.. very consider- 

 ably or the exposition collections could never begot ready on time. 

 Thi> necessity causes one of the principal difficulties in preparing for 

 an exposition, as expert preparators are few. and those whose services 

 are desirable are not always to be had at a specified time. The Museum 

 was especially fortunate in this matter in connection with the Pan- 

 American Exposition, and it is not too much to say that the work 

 turned out both by the regular and temporary preparators was supe 

 rior as a whole to any previous effort. The temporary preparators 



