Appendix I. 

 t 

 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 80, 1908 : 



The ever-increasing crowded condition of the two buildings occupied by the 

 National Museum has made it more difficult each year to provide for the collec- 

 tions and to insure their safety and orderly arrangement. It Is, therefore, but 

 natural that the completion of the large new building, with its greater con- 

 veniences, should be eagerly awaited, and it is hoped that the work of moving 

 in can begin before the close of another year. At the commencement of the 

 fiscal year the outer walls of this structure had been carried to the height of 

 the lintels at the top of the second story on the eastern section of the building, 

 but not so high on the western. Work on the two entrance pavilions had only 

 reached the top of the basement story, but the steel work and arches of the 

 second fioor were in place, and the lecture hall in the basement had been 

 inclosed and partly vaulted. 



Fair progress was made during the year, and at its close the walls had been 

 entirely completed except at the south pavilion, which is to contain the main 

 entrance and the rotunda, and the construction of the roof was well imder way. 

 The fitting up of the interior, however, involves a very great amount of work, since 

 it includes the covering with suitable materials of some 10 acres of floor space, 

 the building of many partitions, the plastering of walls, piers, and ceilings, and 

 the introduction of boilers, machinery, and minor appliances for heating, venti- 

 lation, lighting, and various other purposes, besides the furnishings for the halls 

 and rooms. 



The buildings occupied for many years have been kept in excellent condition, 

 and the museum building has been much improved by replacing its original 

 and imperfect roofs, which have always been a source of great annoyance. The 

 rebuilding of these roofs with tin, begun three years ago, was, with the exception 

 of that covering the rotunda, completed during the year. The latter, however, 

 has since been finished. It is interesting to note that this entire work was car- 

 ried on without closing any part of the building and without injury to any of its 

 contents. Some progress was also made in the isolation of the exhibition halls 

 by the closing of the large openings between them, as a precautionary measure 

 against the spread of fire. 



The failure to secure, last winter, an appropriation for fitting up suitable 

 quarters for the nucleus of the national gallery of art has retarded the segre- 

 gation and arrangement of the collection of paintings, which is now exhibited 

 under very adverse conditions, not at all likely to attract the attention of those 

 who might gladly contribute to this popular branch of the museum. Notwith- 

 standing these circumstances, however, some important donations of pictures 

 were received during the year. 



Mr. William T. Evans has added to his collection of contemporary American 

 artists paintings by Hugo Ballin, George De Forest Brush, F. S. Church, Henry 

 Golden Dearth, Charles Melville Dewey, Paul Dougherty, Ben Foster, Childe 

 Hassam, Ernest Lawson, Willard Leroy Metcalf, Robert Reid, R. M. ShurtlefC, 



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