6 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1904. 



Washington, as well as new methods of installing- and exhibiting 

 museum materials, differing radically from the older cabinets of col- 

 lege or local museums, which had prevailed up to that period. After 

 its close the Government exhibits brought back to Washington, 

 together with the extensive gifts made to the United States by private 

 persons and foreign governments, rendered necessary the early erec- 

 tion of a new and separate building, devoted entirely to museum 

 purposes. Since that time Congress has mainly provided for the 

 maintenance of the Museum, but its management remains, by the 

 fundamental act, under the authority of the Regents of the Smithso- 

 nian Institution, administered through their Secretary, who is ex officio 

 the keeper — a form of government insuring a consistent and uniform 

 policy and a nonpartisan administration of its affairs. The greater 

 part of the Smithsonian building is still used for museum purposes, 

 and the Institution, as well as most of the scientific bureaus at Wash- 

 ington, cooperate, both through men and material, in enlarging and 

 caring for the national collections. 



The scope of the National Museum as defined by law comprises 

 practically all branches of science and of the arts which admit of 

 museum treatment. With exceedingly limited means for making pur- 

 chases, and therefore almost entirely dependent as to the character 

 of its collections upon Government explorations, personal donations, 

 and exchanges, its different departments have had a very unequal 

 growth. The subjects best represented are American ethnology and 

 archeology, geology, zoology, and botany. A fair beginning has been 

 made in the exceedingly important branches of the industrial arts 

 and American history, and scarcely more is required to place these 

 two departments on a proper basis than sufficient room to display 

 the necessary collections, which are certain to be received, in greater 

 part through gratuitous contributions, when it is known that the 

 Museum is prepared to care for them. In the department of the fine 

 arts the collection is still very small, but the subject is one which 

 must sooner or later receive earnest consideration by the Government. 



The specimens in all branches are classified in two series; one, com- 

 prising the bulk of the material, being arranged for the purposes of 

 scientific research and reference in laboratories and storerooms, to 

 which students are freely admitted; the other, selected with regard to 

 their general educational value and public interest, and accompanied 

 by descriptive labels, being displayed in glass-covered cases in the 

 public halls. The duplicate specimens not required for exchanges 

 are made up into sets for distribution to schools and colleges, as 

 opportunity offers. Papers descriptive of the collections, both tech- 

 nical and popular, are published for gratuitous circulation to the 

 extent of three or more volumes yearly, and, finally, the Museum 

 has come to be regarded as a bureau of information in respect to all 



