NATURAL HISTORY BUILDING 9 



it was not until a decade ago that favorable action was obtained. In 

 the meantime the collections continued to increase steadily, and the 

 buildings to become more and more crowded, until finally the neces- 

 sity arose for renting extensive outside quarters in which immense 

 quantities of specimens were stored in bulk, subject to deterioration 

 and in constant danger of destruction by fire. 



The conditions had, in fact, reached a critical stage when, in 1902, 

 Congress made provision for the preparation of plans, and the fol- 

 lowing year authorized the construction of the building which had 

 been so earnestly awaited. Designed on a liberal scale, and as a 

 permanent and monumental feature of the Capital, its completion 

 was not effected until June, 1911, although its occupancy was begun 

 at a considerably earlier date. In the matter of accommodations and 

 appointments, to which long and careful consideration had been 

 given, it appears to be greatly in advance of all other museum build- 

 ings intended for a similar purpose, and in every respect to be 

 worthily adapted for housing and exhibiting the collections of a 

 great country. The building marks the beginning of a new era in 

 the history of the National Museum, through the unrivaled condi- 

 tions presented for the arrangement, care and safety of the collec- 

 tions, for their unrestxicted study in the advancement of knowledge, 

 and for their use in promoting the interests of public education. 



The growth of the national collections has been most pronounced 

 in the lines of natural history, including primitive man, for the 

 reason that, while only very limited means have been available for 

 acquiring examples of the arts of civilization, the Government sur- 

 veys and explorations directed toward the discovery and development 

 of the natural resources of the country and the study of the habits 

 and conditions of the American aborigines have been constant and 

 prolific contributors since the early part of the last century. The 

 influx of material from these sources, often operating beyond the 

 confines of the United States, supplemented by many thousands of 

 gifts and exchanges, has built up collections illustrative of nature 

 and of early man which are scarcely if at all surpassed in any other 

 country. Comprising several millions of specimens and several hun- 

 dreds of thousands of distinct species and forms, they derive their 

 chief value from the fact that a large proportion of the material has 

 served as the basis of extended original researches and discoveries, 

 making its perpetual preservation a matter of extreme importance. 

 It is not, however, solely by the possession of such large and valuable 

 collections that the natural history departments have attained their 

 preponderating position in the Museum, but as much by the close 

 relationship of these departments with important Government work 

 in progress, work underlying many broad economic problems in 

 agriculture, in mining, in fisheries, and in Indian affairs, with which 

 the Museum has been actively associated for over sixty years. 



