FORTY-FOURTH CONGRESS, 1875-1877. 755 



2. On account of the appropriations of Congress for the Centennial, and the liberal 

 donations which have been made to the collections by the States of the Union, by 

 individuals, and especially by foreign governments, the National Museum has sud- 

 denly increased to fourfold its previous dimensions. 



3. For this increase an additional building is required, which can not be made, as 

 the previous one was, from the income of the Smithson fund, and means must there- 

 fore be provided by an appropriation from Congress for this purpose. 



4. The edifice required should be placed in connection with the present Smith- 

 sonian building, in order that the whole may form one system; for should it be placed 

 on other grounds and made a distinct museum, the present Smithsonian building, far 

 too large for its own operations and too expensive to be properly sustained, would be 

 left upon the hands of the Institution. 



I herewith beg leave to transmit the accompanying communication of Prof. S. F. 

 Baird, who had charge of the Smithsonian exhibit at the Centennial, which contains 

 a full exposition of the nature of the additions to the museum and of the necessity of 

 the immediate erection of a suitable building to contain them. 

 I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



JOSEPH HENRY, 



Secretary Smithsonian Institution. 

 Hon. JAS. H. HOPKINS, 



House of Representatives Select Committee on the Centennial. 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 



Washington, January 18, 1877. 



SIR: Understanding that the Centennial Committee of the House of Representa- 

 tives has under consideration that portion of the President's message in reference to 

 the rearrangement of the collections exhibited in the Government building at the 

 International Exhibition in some suitable building in the city of Washington, I 

 would respectfully request that you communicate with them in reference to the 

 needs of the Smithsonian Institution, to which the care of the National Museum has 

 been committed by Congress. 



There is, I believe, no question as to the satisfaction of the American people with 

 the United States exhibition made in the Government building. It was a subject of 

 repeated commendation, and suggestions were continually made by the press and 

 elsewhere as to the importance of its transfer to and maintenance in the city of 

 Washington. It was universally considered the best part of the Centennial display, 

 and was the special object of attention and investigation among the foreign judges 

 and members of the foreign commissions whose duty it was to prepare reports upon 

 the International Exhibition of 1876 to their respective governments. Professor 

 Archer, one of the two chief commissioners from Great Britain, in an address deliv- 

 ered before the Society of Arts in London on the 22d of December, especially char- 

 acterizes the Government exhibit as the most interesting and important at the 

 Centennial. 



The general feeling on the subject of a transfer of the collections found expression 

 in the vote of the National Academy of Sciences, the highest scientific tribunal in 

 the country, at its October session, in which the president of the academy was 

 instructed to address the President of the United States in reference to the impor- 

 tance of exhibiting in Washington the United States collection then in Philadelphia. 

 This was done, and the subject was referred to in the message of the President with 

 earnest commendation. The collections were at the same time ordered by him to 

 be kept in the Government building until the decision of Congress could be ascer- 

 tained. The transfer of the objects from the building was therefore arrested, to await 

 further action. 



