REPORT OF PARK COMMISSIONERS 33 



during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1912, disbursed $15,074 

 on Museum account. When one considers the service rendered 

 to the public by this outlay, the expense is indeed slight, and 

 the wonder is that so much could be done with the means 

 available, by Mr. M. Earl Cummings, the Art Commissioner 

 of the Board, and Mr. George Haviland Barren, the Curator 

 of the Museum. The number of articles in the collection 

 approximate 95,000, and surely many of the relics are rare. 

 The purpose of the Park Commission to publish a complete 

 catalogue of the articles collected is unchanged, but this can- 

 not be done at the present time. The founder of the Museum, 

 Mr. M. H. DeYoung, who was Director-General of the Mid- 

 winter Fair, is able and industrious in support of the enter- 

 prise, and through his efforts further public interest in behalf 

 of the cause may be stimulated. 



Perhaps the Natural History collection of the Museum will 

 ultimately be transferred to or merged in the Academy of 

 Sciences. Plans have been prepared and accepted for the 

 construction in Golden Gate Park on a site near the Temple 

 of Music, of one section or wing of the proposed permanent 

 building of the Academy of Sciences. The Directors of the 

 Academy have resolved to expend at once the sum of $125,000. 

 Fortunately the building belonging to the Academy on Market 

 street between Fourth and Fifth streets, which was destroyed 

 by the great fire of April, 1906, was fairly well insured, and 

 the Directors of the Academy can now see their way clear 

 to the erection of a permanent structure where the very valu- 

 able collection of articles pertaining to natural history may be 

 preserved for public use. 



During the past year Mr. Barren, Curator of the Museum 

 in Golden Gate Park, has given special attention to the collec- 

 tion and classification of pictures, maps, photographs, drawings 

 and publications relating to the period in the development of 

 California which preceded and immediately followed the dis- 

 covery of gold. A department, known as the Pioneer Room, 



