1 86 Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



Report of the Curator-in- Chief 



To THE Board of Trustees, 



Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences. 



Gentlemen: I have the honor to submit herewith my fourth annual 

 report as curator-in-chief, for the fiscal year ending May 20, 1911. 



The event of greatest importance and most vital significance to the 

 museum within that period was the acquisition of our new quarters. 

 Negotiations for the transfer and for a necessary increase in the budget 

 appropriation were begun immediately after the last annual meeting of the 

 Association. Several months elapsed, however, before favorable action 

 was taken by the city authorities, making it possible to conclude a lease of 

 the house now occupied by the museum, and it was six weeks after the 

 Association entered into possession before the needed alterations and 

 repairs were initiated. The removal from Borough Hall was begun March 

 8 and concluded March 13. 



It may be understood, therefore, that the record of the past year is one 

 of preparation rather than achievement. Our new quarters, however, not 

 only afford much better facilities for work on the collections and for 

 storage, but enable us to separate the various departments and to bring 

 the exhibits into better correlation. Under these improved conditions it 

 should be possible to expand our activities in several directions, to be 

 indicated in a latter portion of this report. 



The participation of the museum in the municipal budget exhibit held 

 last October was, in the opinion of many, a potent factor in securing for 

 us favorable consideration. The space occupied consisted of two tables, 

 each 2J/2 by 5 feet. On these were displayed two photographs of Room 

 309 in Borough Hall, then tenanted by the museum; six placards, printed 

 for us through the courtesy of the Brooklyn Institute Museum, contain- 

 ing various comparative statistics as to attendance, appropriations, acces- 

 sions, etc.; a photograph of the Billopp house, and samples of the various 

 educational labels used in our museum. The budget exhibit remained open 

 for one month and was very largely attended. 



Museum Exhibits 



For reasons above given, no conspicuous alterations were made in the 

 permanent exhibits, and no new exhibits were installed until after the 

 removal. A brief synopsis of the present arrangement may be desirable 

 as a matter of record. 



First floor : Main hall, historical relics and photographs of Staten Island 

 scenes. Southeast hall, two cases devoted to the Skinner collection of 

 Iroquois Indian implements, to which Mr. Skinner has recently made 

 some additions ; two cases of Staten Island Indian relics ; one case of 

 local antiques and Revolutionary relics; two cases devoted to the 

 Humphrey loan collection of African ethnology; and a case with a model 



