232 THE AMi:i{I('.\X Ml'SFJ'M JOCHXAL 



then ( Oiiiptiiillci- of tlic I'jii'k, and (,ii tlic I'.ltli of .laiiuary, 1S()9, a incctinj,' 

 WHS held at i\w home of Mr. Ht-njaiiiin H. Field. Thi.s nieetin<^, when the 

 first Board of Trustees was chosen, is considered the actual foundation of 

 the American Museum of .Xatiiral History. 



The draft of the present charter was drawn up l)y Hon. Jose})h H. 

 Choate and accepted without change at the next meeting. When the 

 question arose as to the manner of raising the money for the running e\- 

 jH'Uses of the institution, it was Professor Hickmore who suggested the plan 

 which has worked so well that it has since been adopted for other institutions, 

 whereby the municipality jM-ovides the ground and tlic buildings and pays 

 a certain sum per year toward " maintenance," which includes salaries and 

 wages, heat, light, power and repairs, while the collections are owned in the 

 name of the trustees of the institution and are increased by the expenditure 

 of special and general funds provided for through tlieir cH'orts. Professor 

 Bickmore also was the one who made the ha})i)y suggestion that the word 

 "American" be included in the name of the institution, thus iixlicating 

 its national scope, and it was he to whom was intrusted the delicate and 

 important mission of presenting to the State legislature the bill incorporat- 

 ing the museum. Through the influence of the Hon. Sanmel J. Tilden 

 and Senator William M. Tweed the bill was passed exactly on the broad 

 lines devised l)y the founders. In later years Professor Hickmore was an 

 important agent of the Trustees in getting Manhattan Sciuare reserved 

 exclusively for the purposes of the Museum, in changing the course of the 

 transverse road through Central Park so that it ended at West Eighty- 

 first Street instead of at West Seventy-ninth Street, as originally j)rojected, 

 in procuring the establishment of a carriage entrance to Central Park at 

 West Seventy-seventh Street, and in obtaining through the legislature 

 appropriations from the city for one section after another of the Museum 

 building till .seven integral portions of the great structure were comj)leted. 



As first superintendent of the Museum — bS()9 to LSS4 — Professor Hick- 

 more was constantly in touch with the Trustees in perfecting their plans. 

 Thus his impress was made upon the dimensions and general plan of the 

 complete building, the proportions, lighting and original casing of the first 

 section (now known as the North Wing) and he was concerned with the 

 acquisition and first installation of many of the early collections. On May 1 1 , 

 1S85 he was elected to the Hoanl of Trustees. 



The general i)ubiic came to be most familiar with Professor Bickmore's 

 connection with the Museum through the Department of Public Instruc- 

 tion, organized in 18tS0 at his suggestion for the i)urpose primarily of famil- 

 iarizing the teachers of the public schools with the collections on exhibition 

 by means of lectures illustrated with specimens and lantern slides. From 



