Annual Reports 



Present Status of the IMuseum Collections and Libr.\ry 



231 



Since the date of mj' last annual report there has been but little change 

 in the general conditions in connection with the museum collections and 

 library. The full utilization of all our available floor and wall space for 

 exhibition purposes has rendered impossible any considerable change? in 

 or additions to the exhibits. About two thirds of the museum collections 

 is in storage, and the systematic labeHng and packing of all material not 

 needed for exhibition or study has been carried on whenever time could 

 be spared for the purpose. Many books, pamphlets, etc., for which there 

 was little or no call, or which are not required for museum work, have 

 been removed from the library and stored in the Annex, in order to re- 

 lieve, so far as possible, the congestion on the library shelves. In brief it 

 may be said that the Museum and Annex are largely storehouses, in which 

 there is available space for the display of only about a third of the 

 museum specimens in our possession and accessbile shelfroom for only 

 about one half of our library material. 



Collections, single specimens, books, pamphlets, etc., are constantly being 

 received, and most of this new material has had to be stored away imme- 

 diately after having been entered in the accession book, without cataloging. 

 The cataloging of specimens has been prosecuted, however, as rapidly as 

 identifications could be made or verified and as time was available. 



Museum Exhibits 



The general arrangement of the rooms remains practically the same as 

 originally determined. Several minor changes of specimens in the cases 

 were made, and certain of the most interesting or striking of the new ac- 

 cessions were placed on display, most of which were noted in the Bulletin 

 from time to time. The most extensive and attractive of these is repre- 

 sented by the mounted animal heads donated by Mr. Frederick C. Have- 

 meyer. Eighteen of these were selected and attached to the walls wherever 

 space was available and the specimens would not be entirely out of keep- 

 ing with their environment. A small storage and display case for coins 

 was added to the furniture equipment, which has enabled us to arrange, 

 for the first time, a limited exhibit of this kind. 



The Skinner collection of bead embroidery, representing the work of 

 Cheyenne, Delaware, Ojibway, Menomini, and Winnebago Indians, was 

 loaned and placed on display the past summer in two cases in the arts and 

 antiquities room. Subsequently these were removed and replaced by our 

 collection of medals commemorating civic events and by local relics of the 

 Revolutionary period. 



There was also deposited in the museum, as a permanent loan exhibit, 

 the silver communion service of Trinity M. E. Church of West New 

 Brighton, given to the church more than one hundred years ago, which 

 occupies a prominent position in a special case in the main hall. 



