ORGANIZATION OF THE U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM. 35 



CO him, and accompanied by such paj)ers as may belong therewitli. 

 Upon tbis card the Curator is expected to inscribe a concise description 

 of the accession lot, returning the card and accompanying papers as 

 noon as possible to the Registrar, in order that the Accession Kecord 

 and the Historical File may be completed and the descriptive list of 

 accessions prepared for the printer. When a letter is sent to the sender 

 of a specimen, giving an account of the object, a copy of this should be 

 made by manifold process (stylograph) or upon a leaf of a letter-book, 

 and this copy should be sent to the Eegistrar. 



LXXXVI. 



Management of Historical File. — The Historical File, in which all papers 

 relating to the history of objects in the Museum are to be arranged, 

 shall be under the charge of the Registrar, in whose room shall be kept 

 the part belonging to the current year, the main file being arranged in 

 the office of the Assistant Director, or in the Archive Itoom, as may 

 prove most convenient. 



In this file should be preserved all letters (or copies of them) which 

 relate to objects preserved in the Museum, fif necessary, index slips 

 referring to these may be prepared, to be arranged with the files of the 

 Smithsonian Institution.] Ai)plications for publications should be copied 

 on the proper blank form. 



Each accession shall, if accompanied by papers, have assigned to it 

 an envelope, in which all such papers shall be ultimately arranged. On 

 the outside of this envelope shall be entered the current number of the 

 accession, the name of the sender, and the date of the accession. 



These packets to be filed serially, in order of accession numbers, in 

 locked cases. An alphabetical catalogue to the same is supplied by the 

 card Catalogue of Accessions. 



Any packet or letter may be taken out for temporary use by pre- 

 sentation of an ajiplication slip on which the name of the applicant is 

 signed. This slip is to be filed in i)lace of the removed packet. Packets 

 or letters may not be retained more than four weeks. If any paper is 

 needed for permanent retention, a copy of it will be furnished upon 

 application. 



Only Curators or Acting Curators may be permitted to withdraw 

 packets from the historical file. 



LXXXVII. 



Management of the Application and Proposal File. — The makeup of the 

 Application and Proposal File has already been defined (Rule LXXX). 

 This file, like the Record of Applications, to which it serves as an alpha- 

 betical index, shall be kept in the office of the Assistant Director. The 

 pai)ers of this file are to be enveloped and docketed like those in the 

 Historical File. 



Proc. Xat. Mus. 81 33 (513) 



