2 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



three members of the Senate, three members of the House of Eepre- 

 sentatives, and six other persons, not members of Congress, two of whom 

 are residents of the city of Washington.§ 



The management of the National Museum is intrusted to the Secre- 

 tary of the Smithsonian Institution, who is, ex-officio, its director. He 

 is aided by a staff of assistants, who are chosen by him, and for whose 

 action he is responsible to the Eegents. 



This staff is at the present time composed of an assistant director, 

 six curators, six honorary curators, serving without pay, a number of 

 assistants and aids, acting in various capacities, a registrar, chief taxi- 

 dermist and cliief modeler, besides a considerable force of preparators, 

 mechanics, watchmen, clerks, laborers, &c. 



The staff is constantly changing with the varying needs of the Museum. 



The operations of the Museum are carried on by means of an appro- 

 priation annually made by Congress " for the care and preservation of 

 the collections.'' 



The collections are stored and exhibited in the building erected for 

 the use of the Smithsonian Institution between 1847 and 1857, and in 

 the new building, just finished, known as the "National Museum." 



in. 



coMPosiTioji The Museum is made up, in large part, of the following 

 COLLECTIONS, matcrlals : 



1. The natural-history and anthropological collections accumulated 

 since 1850 by the efforts of the officers and correspondents of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution. 



2. The collections of the Wilkes Exploring Expedition, the Perry 

 Expedition to Japan, and other naval expeditions. 



3. The collections of the scientific officers of the Pacific Railroad Sur- 

 vey, the Mexican Boundary Survey, and of the surveys carried on by 

 the Engineer Corps of the Army. 



4. The collections of the United States Geological Surveys under the 

 direction of the United States Geologists Hayden, King, and Powell. 



5. The collections of the United States Fish Commission. 



6. The gifts by foreign gov^ernments to the Museum or to the Presi- 

 dent and other public officers of the United States, who are forb dden 

 by law to receive them personally. 



7. The collections made by the United States to illustrate the animal 

 and mineral resources, the fisheries, and the ethnology of the native 

 races of the country, on the occasion of the International Exhibition at 

 Philadelphia in 1870, and the fishery collections displayed by the United 

 States in the International Fishery Exhibition at Berlin in 1880. 



8. The collections given by the governments of the several foreign 

 nations, thirty in number, which participated in the exhibition at Phil- 

 adelphia. 



• Revised Statutes, 5580. 



(606) 



