the Museum, and the exhibits were assembled in this 

 building. Frederick J. V. Skiff was given temporary 

 charge of the onerous task of classifying the great 

 mass of material, and was later made Director. The 

 exhibits were practically installed by May 1st, 1894; 

 and on May 21st, the Trustees changed the name to 

 "Field Columbian Museum." The doors were opened 

 to the public for the first time on June 2nd, 1894. 



With the Museum an accomplished fact, the Trus- 

 tees began the work of development, in the course of 

 which it was found advisable to make a number of 

 changes in the original plans. At the time the Museum 

 opened, its main purposes were: "the accumulation 

 and dissemination of knowledge, and the collection and 

 preservation of objects illustrating the various phases 

 of Art, Archaeology, Science and History." Under 

 this plan, however, the collections rapidly grew to 

 such proportions that the Trustees finally decided it 

 would be advisable to limit the collections to the 

 sciences of Anthropology, Botany, Geology and 

 Zoology. As a result of this decision, there was a 

 general readjustment, and much valuable material 

 was distributed among other institutions. The name 

 was then changed to that used today, Field Museum of 

 Natural History. 



Although the exhibits were only placed in the old 

 World's Fair Building temporarily, it was twenty- 

 seven years before they were finally housed in the mag- 

 nificent structure which is now their permanent home. 



Mr. Marshall Field's interest in the Museum never 

 flagged, and his earnestness was demonstrated in his 

 will, which provided a bequest of eight million dollars, 

 one half of which was for an endowment fund, and one 



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