REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 5 



A COLLECTION OF BUSTS OF STATE GOVERNORS IN I860. 



A collection of thirty-two busts, including oue of James Buchanan, 

 has been presented to the Museum by Mrs. Anna E. Douglass. The 

 busts were executed by Mr. Henry Dexter, of Cambridge. After the 

 series was completed in plaster, it was placed on exhibition in the Doric 

 Hall of the State House at Boston. The lapse of time and the celeb- 

 rity of several of the governors have made this collection of great value 

 from an historical stand-point. It is also probable that the sculptor's 

 efforts indicate the best work of the kind produced in the United States 

 up to the year 18G0. 



AERONAUTIC COLLECTION. 



It is intended to establish in the Museum a Department of Aero- 

 nautics, in which will be established (1) balloons and apparatus lighter 

 than air, and (2) models of aerostats heavier than air. The cooperation 

 of the Aeronautic Society of Great Britain has been invited by the 

 Secretary of the Institution, who is especially interested in the subject. 



INCREASE OF THE COLLECTIONS. 



A careful estimate of the number of specimens in all the departments 

 of the Museum places the total at 2,804,244. In 1882 the total was 

 estimated at about 192,000. At that time, however, some of the largest 

 collections in the Museum, such as the ethnological collection, had not 

 been brought under control, and no estimate of their extent was then 

 possible ; so that the difference between the totals for 1882 and 1889 

 can not be accounted for solely by the number of specimens received 

 during these years, but includes also the material which was already 

 in the possession of the Museum, but which had not been classified at 

 the time of the first census of the collections in 1882„ 



AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 



The American Historical Association was founded in 1884 for the pro- 

 omotiou of historical studies, for the collection and preservation of his- 

 torical manuscripts, and lor kindred purposes in the interest of Amer- 

 ican history. By an act of Congress approved January 4, 1889, the 

 regents of the Smithsonian Institution are authorized to permit the 

 American Historical Association to deposit its collections, manuscripts, 

 books, etc., in the keeping of the Smithsonian Institution. Under this 

 Act the American Historical Association reports annually to the Secre- 

 tary of the Smithsonian Institution concerning its proceedings and the 

 condition of historical study in America. 



VISITORS DURING INAUGURATION SEASON. 



On March 2 and 5 the Museum and Smithsonian buildings were vis- 

 ited by 100,075 people. 



