KEPORT 



UPON 



THF CONDITION AND PROGRESS OF THE U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 

 DURING THE YEAR ENDING JUNE BO, 1891. 



BY 



G. Brown Goode, 

 Assistant Secretan,, Smmsonian Institution, in charge of U. S. National Museum, 



A.— GENERAL CONSIDEEATIONS. 



Before, entering upon a detailed statement of the operations of the 

 Musenni during the period covered by tliis Report, it is perhaps not 

 undesirable to briefly outline its history, organization, and aims, in order 

 that the true relationships of the work now to be reported upon, as the 

 outoTowth of the activities of other years, may be comprehended. 



The Smithsonian Institution was established by act of Congress m 

 184G One of the provisions of the act was that '' all objects of art and 

 of foreign and curious research, and all objects of natural history, 

 plants, and geological and mineralogical specimens " belonging to the 

 United States should be placed in the custody of the Institution, to be ar- 

 r-m-ed and classified so as to be available for students. It was also pro- 

 ^dded that a miscellaneous collection of objects known as - the National 

 Cabinet of Curiosities," which had accumulated in the Patent Oftice, 

 should be transferred to the Institution.* A beginning was thus made 

 for the National Museum, which, however, was not recognized othcially 

 under that designation until a later date. The various steps which 

 resulted in the formation of the National Museum are pointed out at 

 some length in a paper printed in Section iii of this Report, and en- 

 titled " The Genesis of the National Museum." 



The Institution from its foundation fostered explorations, and its 

 Museum was enriched by the numerous ethnological and natural history 

 objects brought home by the explorers. Many gifts were received from 

 private sources, and objects of various kinds were deposited m the 

 Museum for safekeeping. 



At the time of the establishment of tlie Institution numerous impor- 

 tant naval expeditions and surveys of the public domain had recently 

 been, or were being, organized byjaieJloveiwnent,^nd_d^^^ 



T^^i^^i^ll^^^ii^T^^ ^ccept^d^md transferred to the lustitution u»tiU858, 



