210 Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



Annual Reports 



Annual Report of the Board of Trustees 

 May IS, 1909 



The Board of Trustees, with the cordial cooperation and assistance of 

 the several standing committees and the officers of the Association, has 

 conducted the routine business of the Association and attended to all 

 matters requiring attention and executive action. 



Ten meetings were held as follows : The annual meeting on May 23, 

 1908; stated meetings on October 3, 1908, January 2 and April 3, 1909; 

 special meetings on June 9, July 21, November 16 and December 15, 1908, 

 January 23 and March 5, 1909. 



Many new and some unexpected conditions developed during the year 

 which required careful consideration and more or less experimenting 

 before definite action could be safely taken. 



The relations between the Association and the city are now on a 

 thoroughly satisfactory basis. The Board of Estimate and Apportion- 

 ment approved of our application for an appropriation of $4,000 for the 

 maintenance and equipment of the museum and library, and this amount 

 was included in the City Budget for 1909 and has been available since 

 January 1 for the payment of adequate salaries for a curator-in-chief 

 and museum assistant and for the purchase of all necessary supplies for 

 the proper care and maintenance of the collections and library. We are 

 now practically on an equality with our sister institutions in the other 

 boroughs, so far as recognition by the city is concerned. 



The museum was formally opened to the public on May 23, 1908, with 

 •appropriate exercises. 



Since that date various experiments have been tried in regard to the 

 hours of opening. At first it was necessary to close the museum to the 

 public on all except three days in the week, in order that the collections 

 might be properly installed and arranged for display. The museum was 

 open to the public on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, from 10 A. M. 

 to 5 P. M. It was next opened on Monday evenings also, from 7 130 to 

 10 o'clock, but the attendance did not warrant the trouble, and this 

 experiment was abandoned. 



After a large part of the preliminary work of arranging and cataloging 

 had been accomplished the open hours were changed to Tuesdays, Wednes- 

 days, Thursdays and Fridays, from 1 to 5 P. M. and Saturdays from 

 10 A. M. to 5 P. M. 



The experiment was also tried during the month of April, of keeping 

 •open one hour later in the afternoon, until 6 o'clock, but this was aban- 

 doned by reason of lack of attendance. 



The present arrangement of keeping open on the afternoons of Tues- 

 days, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and all day Saturdays, and 

 reserving the remainder of the time for museum work, is probably as 

 •satisfactory an adjustment as can be made under existing conditions. 



