112 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1893. 



the many obstacles to effectiv^e work at the most impoitaiit period of 

 exhibition work — the beginning. 



It shonld also be said that the establishment of a board with inde- 

 pendent fnnctions and a separate legal status seems likely to prove a 

 source of expense for general purposes, far greater in proportion than 

 has been found necessary in other exhibitions. 



In addition to the •s4:0(),()0() appropriated for the building, the aggre- 

 gate of the allotments for the use of the Government board was 

 $1>41),000, (»f wliich amount .") per cent, or $47,450, were set apart for the 

 general expenses of the board of management, the remainder being 

 allotted among the several Departments. Tlie amount available for the 

 use of the Smithsonian exhibit, after deducting the 5 per cent con- 

 tribute<l toward the expenses of the board, was sl.>.3,S07.50. 



By the pn (visions of a joint resolution approved March 3, 1803,* the 

 secretary of the Smithsonian Institution was authorized to prepare 

 and send for exhibition in the Woman's building any articles from the 

 Museum illustrative of the life and development of tlie industries of 

 women. In accordance with this authorization, a special exhibit was 

 prepared and installed in the Woman's building under the direc^tion of 

 Prof. Mason. The character of this exhibit is described in the discus- 

 sion of his department. 



The original model of the colossal statue of Leif Erikson (the prop- 

 erty of the city of Boston), which had been presented to the National 

 Museum by the sculptor. Miss Anne Whitney, was also installed in the 

 Woman's building at the request of the Board of Lady Managers, as 

 well as a collection illustrating the history of lacemaking, prepared by 

 Dr. Thomas Wilson. 



Very many requests were made by the authorities of the Exposition 

 and by exhibitors for the loan of objects from the Museum, to be exhib- 

 ited elsewhere than in the Government building, but these were with- 

 out exception refused, on the ground that the Government had already 

 provided for the exhibition of such objects as could be sent from Wash- 

 ington in a special building which was more nearly fireproof than any 

 other on the grounds, and that there was no legal authority for alk)w- 

 ing the Museum material belDUging to the Government to pass out of 

 the custody of its officials. This limitation did not, of course, apply 

 to tlie Government building. Si)ecimens were lent to almost every 

 department of the Government, especially to the Fish Commission, the 

 Patent Ofiicc, the (geological Survey, the War Dej^artment, the Dej^art 

 ment of xVgriculture, and the Treasury Department. Certain historical 

 objects were also placed in the Convent of La Ivabida, which was rec- 

 ognized as a Government building, forming part of the exhibit of the 

 Department of State. 



It was perha])s regarded as a hardship by the officials in charge of 

 the Anthropological building that material should not have been sent 

 from the Government collections to swell the very interesting miscella- 



" See A]»])enflix i\. 



