Annual Reports 233 



IMusEUM Extension Work 



Opportunities for developing the museum and extending its activities 

 have been seriously hampered this j-ear by reason of the curtailment of 

 our former museum staff and the additional routine work which this has 

 necessitated on the part of those responsible for the care and maintenance 

 of the museum. Any considerable amount of field work has been impos- 

 sible and the research work undertaken in connection with other museums 

 and libraries by members of the museum staff was entirely inadequate as 

 compared with what it should have been. 



The director had the privilege of delivering a lecture on the Big Trees 

 of California before the Curtis Club at the Unitarian Parish House, Clin- 

 ton Avenue, New Brighton, on November 13, 1916, and gave an exchange 

 lecture, on Three Months in Alaska, at the Children's Museum in Brooklyn 

 on March 5, 1917. 



Mr. Cleaves acted as official judge last summer, in Suft'olk County, in 

 connection with the Brooklyn Eagle's bird house prize contest for school 

 children on Long Island, and has been active throughout the year, as 

 usual, in promoting the aims of the Staten Island Bird Club and in fur- 

 thering the cause of bird protection in general bj^ writing for the press and 

 magazines, lecturing, attending meetings, etc. 



On Sunday, April i, in response to an invitation bj^ the director, four- 

 teen members of the Torrey Botanical Club visited the Museum and spent 

 the afternoon inspecting the collections and studying the local herbarium. 



The Museum as a Civic Center 



A number of organizations have availed themselves of the facilities 

 afforded by the Museum for meetings, including Troop 4 and Juniors of 

 Troop 4 of Girl Scouts, Troop 5, Richmond Boro' Council, Boy Scouts 

 (the latter having made use of the loft in the Annex), the Staten Island 

 Bird Club, the Executive Board of the Women Teachers' Association, the 

 Richmond Branch of the Visiting Committee, State Charities Aid Associa- 

 tion, etc. 



About fifty meetings other than those of the Association, its sections, 

 the Board of Trustees and its committees, have been held in the Museum 

 during the current year, which is a convincing demonstration of the value 

 of the building to the community in this connection alone. 



Museum Attend.\nce 



The number of visitors to the Museum from May i, 1916, to April 30, 

 1917, inclusive, was 17,361. This is the highest record for any year since 

 the Museum was opened to the public and is larger by 2,909 than that of 

 last year. 



The highest monthly attendance and the highest daily attendance were 

 also recorded this year, viz. 1,905 for the month of January, and 343 on 

 January 19. Complete statistics are included in the appended report of 

 Miss Pollard, curator. 



