REPORT ON THE PROGRESS AND CONDITION OF 



THE U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM FOR THE 



YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1911. 



By Richard Rathbun, 



Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 



in charge of the U. S. National Museum. 



INCEPTION AND HISTORY. 



The Congress of the United States, in the act of August 10, 1846, 

 founding the Smithsonian Institution, recognized that an opportun- 

 ity was afforded, in carrying out the large-minded design of Smith- 

 son, to provide for the custody of the museum of the Nation. To this 

 new establishment was therefore intrusted the care of the national 

 collections, a course that time has fully justified. 



In the beginning the cost of maintaining the museum side of the 

 Institution's work was wholly paid from the Smithsonian income; 

 then for a time the Government bore a share, and during the past 

 35 years Congress has voted the entire funds for the expenses of the 

 Museum, thus furthering one of the primary means " for the in- 

 crease and diffusion of knowledge among men " without encroaching 

 upon the resources of the Institution. 



The museum idea was inherent in the establishment of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, which in its turn was based upon a ten years' dis- 

 cussion in Congress and the advice of the most distinguished scientific 

 men, educators, and intellectual leaders of the Nation of seventy 

 years ago. It is interesting to note how broad and comprehensive 

 were the views which actuated our lawmakers in determining the 

 scope of the Museum, a fact especially remarkable when it is re- 

 called that at that date no museum of considerable size existed in 

 the United States, and the museums of England and of the continent 

 of Europe were still to a large extent without a developed plan, 

 although containing many rich collections. 



The Congress which passed the act of foundation enumerated as 

 within the scope of the Museum " 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 



