Records of Meetings 219 



The Museum Bulletin 



Early in July the Board approved my recommendation that a new publi- 

 cation be issued, to be known as the Museum Bulletin, and to contain the 

 official notices of the Association, together with such items of information 

 about the Museum as might be calculated to interest the members. I was 

 authorized to act as editor, under the supervision of the Committee of 

 Publications. The first number was issued in August, and the Bulletin 

 has been published monthly since that time. At first it was printed on 

 the Museum press, but after entry at the New Brighton post office as 

 second class matter it was deemed advisable to have the printing done 

 professionally. The Bulletin is distributed free of charge to members of 

 the Association and to our exchange list. 



The Needs of the Museum 



Apart from the constant necessity for larger quarters and an additional 

 member of the Museum staff, there are certain important requirements in 

 our general work. The numerous complete but unbound volumes in the 

 library are suffering from being handled and from exposure to dirt. Of 

 these there is an accumulation of at least seven years awaiting binding. 

 The files of old Staten Island newspapers, many of them of great value,, 

 are rapidly disintegrating for lack of proper protection in strong board 

 covers, and in their present condition they are quite inaccessible. 



In the Museum there are several departments in which a relatively small 

 amount of money could be invested to good advantage in the purchase of 

 material. For example, the Chapin collection of Staten Island birds lacks 

 only the aquatic birds and one or two others to be an absolutely complete 

 collection of our avifauna. It would be eminently desirable if a small 

 museum fund could be raised for these purposes, expendible by the Board 

 upon the recommendation of the Curator-in-chief, with the approval of 

 the Museum Committee. There is no way in which members and friends 

 of the Association could evince a more practical interest in the Museum 

 or accomplish more real good to the general public than by contributing 

 to such a fund. Without in any way depreciating the value of the gifts 

 we have received, I venture to point out here that in many cases these 

 gifts are, for various reasons, unsuitable for exhibition purposes. Fre- 

 quently they are of value for study, but are of little use to the public. 

 Sometimes they can only be relegated to storage. We have now reached 

 the point where each department of the Museum has definite needs, which 

 can be supplied by intelligent purchases only, or by special collecting excur- 

 sions, often out of the question with our small staff. 



Appended are statistics relating to matters discussed in this report. 

 Respectfully submitted, 



Charles Louis Pollard, 



Curator-in-chief. 

 May 15, 1909. 



