174 Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



Future Development of the Museum 



The annual appropriation granted by the city has enabled us to continue 

 the work of the museum as a public educational institution and to maintain 

 its high standard of usefulness in the community; but the limit of expansion 

 and development in our present quarters was reached several years ago. We 

 have ample additional material which ought to be placed on display, but no 

 vacant floor or wall space is available for the purpose. Interesting and valu- 

 able material is constantly coming to us which we are compelled to pack away 

 and place in storage. 



Children come in constantly increasing numbers to attend the lectures 

 provided for them; but at times many have to be turned away because the 

 assembly room is filled to the limit of its seating capacity. 



The attendance records on the part of visitors show a steady increase from 

 year to year, and that almost all of these visitors belong to the general public 

 and not to the membership of the Association is evidenced by the fact that of 

 the 14,452 visitors who entered the Museum during the past year, during the 

 hours when it was open to the public, only about 100 were members of the 

 Association. 



The need for more extensive, better arranged and more adequately equipped 

 quarters is too manifest and self evident to require argument or discussion. 

 The facts speak for themselves. The scope of our usefulness and the sphere 

 of our activities will expand automatically as fast as additional facilities are 

 provided to enable us to utilize the material now in our possession and that 

 which is sure to come to us in the future. A new, fireproof building is urgently 

 required, and every effort should be made to secure such a structure as soon as 

 possible, especially in view of the fact that the lease of our present quarters 

 terminates on March 31, 1917, and at date we have no assurance of its renewal. 



Present Status of the Museum Collections and Library 



The general conditions in connection with the museum collections and 

 library are practically the same as they were at date of my last annual report. 

 The packing and storing of material which could not be immediately utilized 

 was systematically prosecuted. Considerable newly accessioned material 

 had to be at once disposed of in this way, without even placing it on temporary 

 display, so that not only the public but also our own members have but little 

 knowledge of the extent and value of our collections. 



Seventy-six donors contributed more than 2,000 museum specimens and 

 library accessions during the year. A complete list of the donors and a clas- 

 sified summary of the material donated is included in the appendix, from which 

 some idea of the variety of the included objects may be obtained. Some of 

 these have been shown at meetings of the Association and others have been 

 mentioned in the Bulletin from time to time; but many others of equal interest 

 have been merely formally acknowledged, accessioned, and placed in storage. 

 This is an unfortunate condition of affairs, not only for the reason that many 

 donors, who do not understand the difficulties under which we labor, receive 

 the impression that their gifts are not appreciated, but also because the wealth 



