BUFFALO SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCES 277 



ATTENDANCE. Open free to the public on week-days from 10 to 

 5, and on Sundays from 1.30 to 5. No statistics of attendance avail- 

 able. 



PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM. 



In addition to its library the Athenaeum has a number of paintings 

 and marble busts, among which may be noted Malbone's miniature 

 picture " The Hours," a miniature of Nicholas Power by the same artist, 

 and his sketch of himself; paintings by Van Dyke, and Sir James Rey- 

 nolds; and a portrait of Sarah Helen Whitman by Thompson. 



RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



This society, established in 182 2, maintains a library and museum 

 devoted especially to Rhode Island and New England history. The 

 collections include Rhode Island Indian relics, relics of the early set- 

 tlers, prints, engravings, and oil paintings of persons and localities 

 of local interest, early household pottery, and homespun fabrics of 

 Rhode Island. The library consists of 40,000 bound volumes and 

 60.000 pamphlets. Among its rare books are Capt. John Smith's De- 

 scription of New England, Eliot's Indian Bible, and nearly all of the 

 original editions of the writings of Roger Williams, Samuel Gorton, and 

 other early Rhode Island authors. The society is supported by the 

 income from endowment funds; an annual state appropriation; and 

 subscriptions and annual memberships. The aims of the society are 

 research, the maintenance of local collections, and instruction of the 

 general public and schools. The society has published 10 volumes of 

 its Collections, 8 volumes of its Publications (new series), and 38 

 volumes of the Proceedings of its business meetings, etc. The museum 

 is on the third floor of the building and is open to the public, with 

 special privileges to members, on week-days from 9 to 4; during August 

 from 10 to i. 



RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN. 



The school maintains a public museum administered by a museum 

 committee, of which E. G. Radeke is secretary. The collections include 

 the following: Sculpture, 350, including casts; Prints, engravings, 

 and autotypes, 900; Oil paintings and water colors, 200; Ceramics, 

 1600; Textiles, 1500; Furniture, 200; Metals, 500. 



The museum occupies 8 galleries in the main building, 3 of which 

 are devoted to oil paintings, water colors, and engravings, 2 to casts 

 of classic and renaissance sculpture, i to autotypes illustrating the 

 history of painting, i to Japanese pottery, metal work, lacquer, dnd 

 textiles, and i to a representative collection of peasant pottery from 



