PKOCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS. XV 



uea.is. an arrangement which has rendered the administration of the :Museum 



t.o«w!V.l« without making its oversight an impossible burden upon tlie Secretary. 



i',i^- plan of head curatorships is [he said] for the present workuig well, but I 



■ !, , prefer to give it another year's trial before saying that it can be considered 



-■,, ble plan for the permanent administration of the Museum. In accordance 



■ le resolution modifying the terms of the appointment of Mr. Richard Rathbun 



istant Secretary, he has been enabled to aid me in the administration of 



' ;.- . m affairs. 



NEW BU1LDIX(; FOR THE XATIOX.\I. .MUSEUM. 



ri. question of an additional building for the National Museum is one which has 

 i , freciuently referred to, and which, I may remind the Regents, had the very 

 - L . 1 sympathy of their departed colleague. Senator Morrill. 



V: ! present building was erected at an entire cost of $315,000. It has an exhibi- 

 ii(.v .pace of 9H,000 square feet, and is the cheapest building of its size ever erected 

 h.r- useum purposes. 



r i growth of the Museum is extraordinary, when the mere number of specimens 

 •^ iskiered without reference to their arrangement or value. Before the present 

 .\5,i~.;um building was fairly completed, it was found inadequate to holding all the 

 /•••iu ctions, then numbering between one and two millions, and a considerable part 

 ri.-^ .'emained in the Smithsonian building, which was built entirely at the private 

 . : of the Smithson fund, and which the Government has continued to use up to 

 ; .: present time, rent free, by the permission of the Regents, for this purpose. 



There are now between four and five million specimens, occupying a floor space 

 .. liich is only adequate for one-third of that number, and the rate of increase is itself 

 iiirreasing by bounds, more than 400,000 specimens having been added during the 



pii^jt year. 



This great increase is not, however, cause for unmixed congratulation, for while 



, -. me of the recent additions represent collections complete in themselves, as a whole 



ey are not readily assimilable. They were not as a rule selected by the donors on 



ly delil:>erate system, l)ut are separate and unrelated gifts, too valuable in themselves 



)r the (iovernment to refuse, l)ut which must be joined under some system, and can 



.ot be effectively used unless means are provided to fill the gaps between them by 



)urchase, and make them continuous. 



With some notable exceptions, then, the increase of collections is in the direction 

 of a miscellaneous and fragmentary mass, which can only be fully developed and co- 

 ordinated by purchases to fill the gaps, and there are almost no means for such 



purchases. 



Although the Museum is now so congested that the contents are rather packed 

 than displayed, it must not be supposed that the lack of space is the only imperative 

 demand. I'nless some additional means are provided by Congress for unifying these 

 collections, I feel it my duty to state to the Regents that, even without reference to 

 the building (luestion, the Museum under their charge, which is still in the front of 

 such American institutions, t-an not longer remain so. 



The need of a new building is one quite apart from any enlargement in scope or 

 future development, though questions of that njiture are also presenting themselves 

 for solution. Among these I may mention the very earnest reconnnendation of Mr. 

 Walcott for a Museum of Practical Geology, the demand for which, he tells me, is 

 every day becoming stronger. 



I have laid these needs of the Museum before the Board thus briefly, to invite 

 an expression of opinion as to whether the time is opportune for i)resenting them 

 to Congress, and if so, to especially invite the help of the Regents in their accom- 

 plishment. 



