Appendix I. 



REPORT ON THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Sir : 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, 1911 : 



COMPLETION AND OCCUPATION OF THE NEW BUILDING. 



It is gratifying to be able to report the completion of all structural work on 

 the new building for the Museum on June 20, 1911, just six years after the 

 excavations for its foundations were commenced. While the time limit orig- 

 inally estimated was somewhat exceeded on account of delays in the fulfillment 

 of certain contracts, the work was purposely conducted slowly in order to 

 insure entire stability and permanency of construction, which it is confidently 

 believed have been secured. The building is massive and imposing in appear- 

 ance, a notable addition to the group of Government structures at the Capital, 

 and has already been proved to be admirably adapted to the purposes for 

 which it was designed. 



There is comparatively little room in the building that can not be utilized. 

 Of the approximately 10 acres of floor space which it contains, fully one-half 

 has been allotted to the public in the interest of popular education. The other 

 half, after deducting the area required for the maintenance and operation of the 

 building, is assigned to the storage of the reserve collections and to the labora- 

 tories. The occupation of the building did not await its final completion, but 

 was begun during the summer of 1909, and has been continued as rapidly as 

 the necessary furniture could be provided. 



The work done on and in connection with the building during last year com- 

 prised the finishing of the rotunda, the south approaches, and the auditorium ; 

 the painting of the interior plastered walls and ironwork ; and, under the 

 direction of the officer in charge of public buildings and grounds, the grading 

 and sodding of the grounds immediately surrounding the building and the 

 construction of roads and walks leading to the several entrances. 



By the close of the year essentially all of the reserve collections and all of 

 the laboratories of the several divisions of anthropology, zoology, geology, and 

 paleontology had been established in the new building, as had also most of 

 the administrative offices which are to be located there. The collections had, 

 moreover, been nearly all arranged in a manner convenient for study and 

 reference, and in greater part had received their permanent systematic installa- 

 tion. Much remains to be done, however, in perfecting this arrangement and 

 in completing the catalogues and indexes. 



The exhibition collections had also been moved with the exception of the 

 American mammals, the birds, the marine invertebrates, the osteological speci- 

 mens, the fossil plants, the building stones, the gems, and a small section of 

 ethnology. The only public installations that had been completed in the new 

 building, besides the paintings of the National Gallery of Art, were, however, 

 of ethnology, which occupied the sides and ends of the middle hall on the 



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