Appendix I. 

 REPORT ON THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Sik: I have the honor to submit the following report on the operations of 

 the United States National Museum for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1909 : 



BUILDINGS. 



Although it had been fully expected, as explained in the last report, that the 

 new building would be completed before the close of the year, delayed contracts 

 and other circumstances interfered so greatly with the progress of the work 

 that no part of the structure was in condition for occupancy at the end of 

 June. The entire stonework of the outer walls of the building, including the 

 porch, columns, and front of the south pavilion in which the main entrance 

 is located, was, however, finished, as were the roofs and skylights of the build- 

 ing generally. The placing of the slate on the dome of the rotunda and on the 

 adjacent roof of the south pavilion was under way, but the laying of the 

 extensive granite approaches, for which the stone has been delivered, had not 

 been begun. 



Much remains to be done in the interior of the rotunda, but as it is the main 

 part of the building which is most urgently needed for the accommodation 

 of the collections and laboratories, it is there that the work has been most 

 energetically prosecuted. Except for some special items, such as metal doors, 

 transoms, etc., the construction of which will require several months, it is 

 expected that at least some parts of the building will be ready for use and 

 that the moving from the older buildings may be started before autumn. 



It is interesting to mention that the building has already been made to 

 serve a commendable purpose as the meeting place of the Sixth International 

 Tuberculosis Congress, held in the early autumn of 1908. Being then in a very 

 unfinished condition, it was necessary to make special arrangements, authorized 

 by an act of Congress, for such partitions and other fittings as were required 

 for the accommodation of the several sections and for the display of the exten- 

 sive collections that were brought together. A large part of the first and second 

 floors as well as of the basement was given over to the congress, and while 

 the progress of construction on the building was thereby much retarded, the 

 delay may be regarded as fully sanctioned by the exceptionally important 

 nature of the event which occasioned it. 

 ■ The reconstruction of the main roofs of the old Museum building was com- 

 pleted during the summer of 1908, when the slate covering of the rotunda was 

 replaced with tin. The use of slate on these roofs in the beginning had been 

 a mistake in view of their generally slight pitch and the relatively light charac- 

 ter of the supporting iron framework. The old roofs had always leaked badly, 

 but up to the present time the new ones have shown no weakness of any kind, 

 and it is felt that they have been built in a proper and substantial manner. 

 Other important repairs interfered with the work of filling in the large arch- 

 ways between the halls of the old building, intended, as explained in previous 



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