S REiPOET OF NATIONAL MUSSuM, 19^5 



The appointment of a curator to devote his whole time to the proj- 

 ect resulted in a splendid advance in the Loeb Collection of chemical 

 types, 616 new specimens having been received during the year from 

 a large number of cooperators who have been interested in adding to 

 this collection. 



Important additions to the historical collections comprise an un- 

 usually interesting series of firearms loaned by Maj. Jerome Clark, 

 United States Army ; a dress owned by Martha Washington loaned 

 by Mrs. Wilfred P. Mustard, Baltimore, Md. ; many objects owned 

 by the late Lieut. Gen. Nelson A. Miles, contributed by his son, Maj. 

 Sherman Miles, United States Army, and his daughter, Mrs. Samuel 

 Eeber,'New York City, together with military paraphernalia used 

 by Gen. John J. Pershing and loaned by him. The naval collections 

 received numerous contributions both from private sources and by 

 transfer from the Navy Department, the later comprising a series 

 of models illustrating development in naval vessels from 1776 to 

 1920. The Treasury Department transferred a number of coins to 

 the numismatic collections which were also enriched by private 

 collectors, a notable example being the loan of some 400 Irish and 

 English coins. A library of about 800 publications relating to 

 numismatics was transferred to the Museum by the Treasury De- 

 partment. Through transfers from the Post Office Department 

 5,605 specimens were added to the philatelic collections. 



As previously stated, all of the foregoing matters here sum- 

 marized will be found treated in more detail further along in this 

 volume. 



SERVICE TO THE PUBLIC 



Manifestly it is difficult to express concisely the extent of th,e 

 Museum's service to the public since its function^ in this connec- 

 tion are highly complex and its services diverse. Broadly speaking 

 the Museum is charged with four principal obligations, (1) the 

 care and preservation of the national collections, (including biology, 

 geology, anthropology, history, art, and the industries), (2) the 

 public exhibition of interesting and educational material, (3) re- 

 search work in naming and classifying material brought to the 

 Museum, and (4) the promotion of knowledge through publication 

 of accounts of the collections based on such research work. 



The care of collections is a highly important function since it 

 involves the preservation from destruction of the myriad objects, 

 natural and manufactured, that are housed in the Museum. This 

 and the necessary work in naming and arranging material require 

 constant supervision and a vast amount of labor on the part of 

 highly trained specialists on the staff of curators. 



