10 UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



As a result of these circumstances the natural history branches have 

 as a whole become more thoroughly organized than the other branches 

 and their collections have been more completely classified and ar- 

 ranged and more extensively drawn upon for exhibition purposes. 

 They were also in much greater need of better laboratory and storage 

 facilities, and their claims were recognized as paramount in designing 

 the new building, which has been planned almost wholly with ref- 

 erence to their requirements. 



As soon as provision for the new building had been assured steps 

 were taken to secure at first hand detailed information regarding 

 all the important museum buildings of Europe and the United States, 

 which were visited both by Museum officers and by the architects. 

 The published plans and descriptions obtainable were supplemented 

 by voluminous notes and many drawings, and it is doubtful if any 

 structures offering possible suggestions escaped attention. In decid- 

 ing upon the character and arrangement of space for the building, 

 however, reliance was mainly placed upon the actual experience of 

 the Museum staff. The Smithsonian building, to be sure, had been 

 only in part designed for museum purposes and was put up at a time 

 when museum needs were but little understood, while the second 

 building, though possessing many excellent qualities, is rather of 

 the temporary exposition type. Both, however, have furnished many 

 valuable object lessons, teaching perhaps more what to avoid than 

 what to retain, and in the prolonged effort to adapt them to the 

 storage and exhibition of the constantly overflowing collections it 

 was but natural that very definite opinions should have been reached 

 as to the general and detailed reqairements of a modern museum. 



The earlier plans for the building contemplated somewhat greater 

 dimensions than had finally to be adopted, the deciding factor in this 

 regard being the amount of the appropriation. In conjunction with 

 the architects and the superintendent of construction, the needs of 

 each branch of the collections and of each distinctive purpose of the 

 Museum were carefully and repeatedly considered, and no matters 

 great or small that concerned the production of a structure intended 

 to meet the highest ideals of an establishment of this kind failed to 

 receive their due amount of attention. It is felt that the outcome is 

 satisfactory and that a great advance in museum architecture has 

 been achieved. 



The size of the building somewhat obscures the fact that its plan 

 is very simple, and this is one of its most commendable characteristics. 

 Decorative treatment has been generally avoided in the interior, the 

 lighting question has been skilfully handled, and every part of the 

 structure has been adapted to its particular purpose. While nearly 

 one-half of the floor space, comprising the principal stories, has been 

 allotted to the public, the quarters reserved for the storage of col- 



