12 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1921. 
form a unique and notable agency for the increase and diffusion of 
knowledge, for the direction of research, for cooperation with depart- 
ments of the Government and with universities and scientific societies 
in America, and likewise afford a definite correspondent to all scien- 
tific institutions and men abroad who seek interchange of views or 
knowledge with men of science in the United States. 
Since that early day the only material changes in the scope of the 
Government museum have been the addition of a department of 
American history, intended to illustrate by an appropriate assem- 
blage of objects the lives of distinguished personages, important 
events, and the domestic life of the country from the colonial period 
to the present time, and provision for the separate administration of 
the National Gallery of Art as a coordinate unit under the Smith- 
sonian Institution. From 1906 to 1920 the Gallery was adminis- 
tered as the department of fine arts of the Museum. 
The development of the Museum has been greatest in those subjects 
which the conditions of the past three-quarters of a century have 
made most fruitful—the natural history, geology, ethnology, and 
archeology of the United States, supplemented by many collections 
from other countries. The opportunities for acquisition in these 
directions have been mainly brought about through the activities of 
the scientific and economic surveys of the Government, many of 
which are the direct outgrowths of earlier explorations, stimulated or 
directed by the Smithsonian Institution. The Centennial Exhibition 
of 1876 afforded the first opportunity for establishing a department 
of the industrial arts, of which the fullest advantage has been taken, 
but the department or gallery of the fine arts made little progress, 
though not from lack of desire or appreciation, until 1906, when cir- 
cumstances led to its definite recognition. The historical collections 
have been greatly augmented within the past few years by large col- 
lections illustrative of the World War, including a comprehensive 
series of aircrafts and their accessories. 
While it is the primary duty of a museum to preserve the objects 
confided to its care, as it is that of a library to preserve its books and 
manuscripts, yet the importance of public collections rests not upon 
the mere basis of custodianship nor upon the number of specimens 
assembled and their money value, but upon the use to which they are 
put. Judged by this standard, the National Museum may claim to 
have reached a high state of efficiency. From an educational point 
of view it is of great value to those persons who are so fortunate 
as to reside in Washington or who are able to visit the Nation’s Capi- 
tal. In its well-designated cases, in which every detail of structure, 
appointment, and color is considered, a selection of representative 
objects is placed on view to the public, all being carefully labeled in- 
dividually and in groups. The child as well as the adult has been 
