36 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1914. 
the foreign stamps received through the International Bureau of the 
Universal Postal Union at Berne, Switzerland, and a number of 
early United States stamps specially purchased. Nearly all of these 
series, however, were incomplete. The remainder of the collection 
was composed of sheets of stamps, envelopes, and postal cards 
mounted on swinging screens for various American expositions; 
many separate sheets of stamps and individual specimens; and 
several albums of stamps and of die proofs of United States stamps. 
The preliminary work of putting this collection in shape, consisting 
in the systematic arrangement of the material by countries and dates 
of issue, having been completed in the early part of last year, the 
problem of preparing an appropriate exhibition was then taken up. 
It was decided to limit the display in the beginning almost exclu- 
sively to stamps, and, drawing first upon the resources of the collec- 
tion from the Post Office Department, to leave spaces during the 
mounting for the desiderata which would be supphed as oppor- 
tunities offered. 
There have been many methods of exhibiting postage stamps, but 
it is believed that the scheme here adopted is an improvement over any 
other, especially in the matter of details. The principle is the same 
as that followed by the British Museum and is exemplified in the 
former cabinet of the Post Office Department, namely, a series of 
vertical sliding frames in which the specimens are mounted. The 
cabinet that has been built and in which the installation is in progress, 
though already made accessible to the public, may be briefly described 
as follows: There are two cases, each 16 feet 2 inches long, 6 feet 7 
inches high, and 2 feet 83 inches deep, constructed each in two sec- 
tions for convenience in moving. They are made of mahogany with 
simple trimmings on the outside, but of white pine in the interior ex- 
cept as otherwise stated, and are placed facing each other on either 
side of the main passageway in the northwest court. The lower part 
of the cases is arranged for storage and provided with doors. The 
upper part, measuring 3 feet 24 inches from a counter shelf to the top 
of the cornice, contains the sliding frames, of which there are 148 in 
each case, or 296 in all, a number that may of course be at any time 
increased by adding to the case length. 
The individual frames, made of cherry, measure 31} inches high 
by 293 inches deep on the outside, and 27% by 212 inches in the open- 
ing. The thickness of the frames is 1;% inches, and when fully 
drawn out they are exposed to a depth of 233 inches, with an exten- 
sion into the case of 64 inches, which provides the necessary leverage. 
Both sides are used and are glazed with English negative glass. The 
frames slide on cherry strips and the upper and lower rails of the 
former are grooved to within an inch of the front. In the lower 
groove are mortised four brass trunk rollers projecting one-eighth 
