Annual Reports 93 



just balance by following one of these special displays with another of a 

 different character. 



The attendance record shows a total of 4992, as against 3597 last year. 

 This does not include the attendance at lectures or other special events 

 in the museum. The rate of increase over the first year in which the 

 museum was open is especially gratifying when we reflect that a con- 

 siderable proportion of our own members have not as yet visited the 

 museum, and that a goodly portion of the community has failed to grasp 

 the idea that there is such an institution on our island. This indicates 

 that the growth in attendance will continue, especially after we are enabled 

 to move into more accessible quarters. 



The only change in the museum staff during the year was the appoint- 

 ment by the Board of Dr. John Quincy Adams as honorary curator of the 

 department of Arts and Antiquities. The committee on exhibits of the 

 Section of Art is continued under his supervision. 



Museum Exhibits 



A large portion of the summer months in 1909 were devoted to prepara- 

 tions for the special Hudson-Fulton exhibit, which opened with appro- 

 priate exercises on September 4 and closed on October 31. The particular 

 features of the exhibit were described in the local press and in the Museum 

 Bulletin for September 1909 (No. 14). It consisted of a synoptic pre- 

 sentation of the original resources of the island and the salient points 

 of its history, and was greatly enhanced in interest and value by the 

 numerous loans tendered by members and friends of the Association. 

 The attendance during September was far in excess of that recorded in 

 any previous month, and amply justified the time and labor required in 

 preparing for the exhibit. 



The art loan exhibits greatly surpassed those of the previous year in 

 value and interest. In May a collection of old china, consisting princi- 

 pally of Lowestoft, but including various other wares, was installed. 

 This remained throughout the summer, and was succeeded in November 

 by a remarkable collection of old prints and engravings and by a number 

 of modern prints and pastels by Charles F. W. Mielatz and Joseph Pennell. 

 The facilities for displaying these pictures were not satisfactory, and the 

 exhibit did not attract the widespread notice that it deserved. Some rare 

 old Japanese prints were loaned at about the same time by Messrs. Bolton 

 C. Brown and Fred L. Stoddard, through the courtesy of Mrs. J. Q. 

 Adams. In December the china was replaced by old Sheffield silver and 

 old cut glass, which presented an especially fine effect in the new case built 

 after a design obtained from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In March 

 a large collection of old samplers, chiefly from Mr. George A. Plimpton 

 and from the Teachers' College, likewise obtained by Mrs. Adams, \vas 

 displayed for a month. The present exhibits of the Art Department in- 

 clude a case of Wedgwood china and a number of cases of old laces 

 and embroideries. 



