16 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1914, 
cation from one part of the building to another is direct and unob- 
structed. All of the halls open broadly into the rotunda, and there 
is a continuous passage from range to range about the building. 
Only the courts are out of the beaten paths, and each has one or 
two entrances appropriately placed. 
With this brief description of the building, we may proceed to an 
account of its present and prospective uses. 
HISTORY. 
The division of history, organized in 1881, was primarily designed 
to illustrate the history of the United States from colonial times by 
exhibiting such relics or memorials of noteworthy personages and 
events as could be brought together, with groups of objects rep- 
resenting different periods. Recently an American period costume 
collection has been added, which introduces a very striking and in- 
teresting feature; and to the division are also assigned the coins and 
medals and the paraphernalia of the postal service, the most im- 
portant being the stamps, all of which relate to other countries as 
well as our own. While practically all of the memorials and cos- 
tumes are displayed, the duplicate coins and medals and full sets of 
duplicates from the stamp collection are arranged as a reserve series 
for the use of students. Also filed in drawers and constituting a 
most valuable reference series are several thousand photographs 
and engravings of individuals who have gained more or less promi- 
nence in their respective pursuits. 
Originally based mainly on loans, so large a part of the collection 
has become the property of the Museum that its permanency is fixed 
beyond question. Lenders, moreover, appreciating the protection 
assured their heirlooms, and actuated to some extent at least by pa- 
triotic motives, are not inclined to withdraw the objects belonging 
to them, and it is interesting to note the frequent changes during 
recent years from “loan” to “ gift” of important articles that have 
been deposited. : 
Starting with the north hall as its sole exhibition space, which it 
shared with other subjects, the collections have grown so steadily 
that the division at present not only utilizes that entire hall, but has 
also gained possession of the west north and north west ranges and the 
floor space in the northwest court, with an aggregate of about 17,000 
square feet of floor space. 
MEMORIAL COLLECTIONS. 
The general historical or memorial collections, constituting the 
most varied and popular section of the division and the most ex- 
tensive as regards the area covered, occupy the north hall and west 
