32 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
mine. It shall be his duty to attend to the correspondence of the Academy with 
other similar bodies, the exchanging of publications, and to care for all the 
scientific specimens which may now be or may hereafter become the property of 
the State, under the direction of the Academy. He shall be in charge of the 
secretary’s office, which shall be in connection with the museum in the state- 
house, and shall receive such annual compensation for his services as shall be 
appropriated by the legislature from time to time. The legislature may also 
allow an annual amount for postage and assistance to the curator. 
HISTORICAL MUSEUM-— STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
The State Historical Society shall be allowed the us3 of rooms in the state- 
house for the proper display of all articles of an historical nature, except bound 
books and printed pamphlets, which may now be or may hereafter become the 
property of the society or the state. 
This museum shall be in charge of the secretary of the state historical society, 
who shall have his office in rooms in the state-house contiguous to the historical 
museum. Heshall attend to the correspondence and exchanges of the society, 
eare for its museum, and shal! be allowed such compensation for his services and 
such assistance as the legislature shall from time to time determine. All dupli- 
cate historical books in the state library, and other books not needed by the other 
departments or for traveling libraries, shall be turned over to the secretary of the 
State Historical Society, if he desires them, to use in exchanging for historical 
literature. 
All acts of the legislature relating to the State Library, Academy of Science or 
State Historical Society which are inconsistent with the foregoing provisions are 
to be repealed. 
I am fully persuaded that the plan just outlined, if enacted into a law, 
would be economical to the state and involve less actual ultimate outlay than the 
present system requires. Above all, it would promote the usefulness of the State 
Library, the State Historical Society, and the Academy of Science. 
The plan just given would take the appointments out of politics and probably 
insure a permanently efficient library management. Moreover, it would give the 
Supreme Court, the Historical Society and the Academy of Science a continued 
and direct oversight of the book collections in which they have a chief interest. 
The State Historical Society has built up a noble collection of valuable his- 
torical and general literature. Its management has been excellent. Its library, 
hampered as it has always been for room, is yet the best managed in the state- 
house, because there has been in it the greatest regard for modern library 
methods. 
The library of the Academy of Science has been in no sense a public collec- 
tion, although I think no person has ever been denied the privilege of using it. 
The function of the librarian of the Academy has been merely that of a book 
collector. He has not come in contact with the public as users of books, and so 
has not been required to study the broader question of library economy. 
But put all these book collections together. Give them one management, 
under a chief who knows both books and library methods, and in whose election 
no question other than that of fitness shall be raised. Properly maintain and 
distinguish the four library sections as herein outlined: the law, the historical, 
the scientific, and the miscellaneous. Then give each room to grow, under the 
fostering care of the societies and the chief librarian and the state; and the 
sphere of their usefulness, and the measure of it, will continue to grow as the 
years pass by. 
