D 



ecembcr. 



1958 



Mills: From 1858 to 1958 



87 



8). Forbes was appointed to the same 

 office on June 26, 1872, the day Powell's 

 resignation was offered and accepted 

 (Bateman 1872:6). 



Because the Natural History Society 

 was composed principally of people who 

 were prosecuting natural history investi- 

 gations as sidelines to other activities, and 

 because it was not a strong cohesive agent, 

 it finally reached the point where it could 

 no longer sustain itself. Forbes (1907r: 

 898) said of the times, "It should be 

 remembered, in this connection, that this 

 was a time when college men, as a rule, 

 worked like dray-horses and were paid 

 like oxen, . . ." 



The Society turned to the state for 

 aid, and by an act approved February 28, 

 1867, $2,500, to be paid annually to the 

 State Board of Education, was appropri- 

 ated by the General Assembly for the 

 salary of a curator and "for the necessary 

 expenses of improving and enhancing the 

 value" of the Museum (Illinois General 

 Assembly 1867:21). Major Powell was 

 the first curator to receive state aid. The 

 state appropriations, according to Forbes 

 ( 1907c : 895) , "were largely drawn upon 

 to outfit and maintain the Powell expedi- 

 tions to the far west." As a condition 

 upon receiving further state aid, as pro- 

 vided by legislative act approved April 

 14, 187i, the Society had to turn its Mu- 

 seum over to the state (Illinois General 

 Assembly 1872:152). On June 22, 1871, 

 the Society agreed to the transfer and 

 when, on June 28, 1871, the Board of 

 Education accepted the transfer, the Mu- 

 seum officiallv became state propertv 

 (Bateman 1871:9; Forbes 1877:324-5)'. 



On December 15, 1875, the State 

 Board of Education passed the following 

 resolution (Etter 1876:17): 



Rfsol-vrd, That we regard the Museum as a 

 State institution, devoted to the prosecution of 

 a natural history survey of the State, to the 

 encouragement and aid of original research, 

 and to the diffusion of scientific knowledge 

 and habits of thought among the people. 



Forbes, who in 1872 had been appointed 

 by the State Board of Education as Cura- 

 tor of the Museum, remained in that 

 capacity until July 1, 1877, when by legis- 

 lative act approved May 25, 1877, a State 

 Historical Library and Natural History 

 Museum were established at Springfield, 



and the Illinois Museum of Natural His- 

 tory at Normal was "converted into a 

 State Laboratory of Natural History" 

 (Illinois General Assembly 1877:14-6). 



STATE LABORATORY 

 OF NATURAL HISTORY 



The act that established the State 

 Laboratory of Natural History relieved 

 Forbes of the necessity of developing mu- 

 seum exhibits and allowed him to turn 

 more of his attention to research. Shortly 

 after the establishment of the Laboratory, 

 Forbes' title was changed from Curator 

 to Director (Etter 1877:25). 



Forbes had not been occupying his time 

 completely in the preparation of museum 

 material while he was Curator of the Illi- 

 nois Museum of Natural History. He had 

 taught classes in zoology at Illinois State 

 Normal University and he had started a 

 series of bulletins reporting on research 

 and investigation. The first number of the 

 series is dated December, 1876, and carries 

 the title. Bulletin of the Illinois Museum 

 of Natural History. From the appearance 

 of No. 2 of the first volume, in June, 

 1878, until the beginning of Volume 13, 

 in 1918, the title was the Bulletin of the 

 State Laboratory of Natural History, and 

 from that time to the present it has been 

 the Bulletin of the Illinois State Natural 

 History Survey or Illinois Natural His- 

 tory Survey Bulletin. The volumes have 

 been numbered serially from December, 

 1876, to the present time. 



The work of the Laboratory and its 

 young Director attracted the attention of 

 the new Illinois Industrial University at 

 Urbana. Not only had Forbes been pub- 

 lishing actively, but in 1882 the duties of 

 State Entomologist had fallen on his capa- 

 ble shoulders. Shortly afterward the Uni- 

 versity made an offer of employment to 

 the Director of the Laboratory and State 

 Entomologist. Forbes faced the choice of 

 declining the offer, of abandoning the 

 Laboratory, which had been established at 

 the Illinois State Normal University by 

 legislative act, or of moving the Labora- 

 tory with him. 



Apparently at his suggestion, the mat- 

 ter was taken up with the State Board of 

 Education by the Trustees of the Illinois 

 Industrial University, and an agreement 



