26 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. 



Smithsonian library, Mr. F. W. True resigned the position of librarian, 

 and the assistant librarian, Mr. Murdoch, became librarian of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, in charge also of the Museum library, with Mr. 

 N. P. Scudder as assistant librarian. 



The chief need of the library is more room for the storage of the 

 files of periodicals. The room now available is scarcely sufficient to 

 provide for the regular growth of the series now kept, and want of 

 room is a serious hindrance to the acquisition of the files of important 

 periodicals. 



Distribution of Duplicates, and Exchanges. 



The policy of the Smithsonian Institution in reference to the distri- 

 bution of its duplicate material has frequently been emphasized in its 

 annual reports. It has always been the desire of the Institution to 

 utilize this material by sending it to colleges, museums, and individ- 

 uals, either as a gift or in exchange, and thus to extend as widely as 

 possible the means of diffusing a knowledge of the natural history of 

 this country. In the Smithsonian report for 1859* Professor Henry 

 wrote : "The object of the Institution in obtaining so large a number 

 of duplicates is that they may be distributed for the advancement of 

 knowledge to persons who may be engaged in original investigations in 

 natural history, and also to colleges for the purpose of education." In 

 the same place hesays : "Although the primary object of the Institution 

 is not educational, yet the Museum is arranged with special reference 

 to the study of the elements of different branches of science ; and the 

 distribution of the extra specimens will furnish the means of diffusing 

 a knowledge of natural history more generally throughout the country." 



During the last few years each department in the Museum has been 

 under the care of a specialist, but in former years, when the Secretary 

 of the Institution acted as the sole keeper of the Museum, the collec- 

 tions, as soon as they were received, were sent away to various specialists, 

 who undertook to identify the specimens, which were duly returned, 

 labeled, to the Institution. 



Thus in the early days of the Museum the value of the collections 

 depended in large part upon the willingness of specialists to co-operate, 

 and to them distributions of material were of course most readily made. 

 Professor Henry, in the annual report for 1861 f states that up to that 

 time 80,000 specimens had thus been distributed. He adds : " When it 

 is considered that all these have been named and labeled by naturalists 

 admitted to be of the highest authority in their respective departments, 

 and that all have thereby the character and value of types, it will be 

 readily understood how much their systematic and judicious distribu- 

 tion by the Institution all over the world must conduce to the advance- 

 ment of science." 



As aresult, however, of the more thorough organization of the Museum 

 at the present time, the determination of material is for the most part 

 *Page 50. t Page 63. 



