University of the State of New York 

 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The New York State Museum, organized by act of legislature in 

 1870 under the title of the "State Museum of Natural History," 

 and placed under the trusteeship of the Regents of the University, 

 is the result of the geological survey of the state commenced in 

 1836. In that year, pursuant to a resolution passed by the legisla- 

 ture of 1835, Hon. John A. Dix, Secretary of State, formulated a 

 plan for a complete natural history survey of New York. The col- 

 lections made in the course of this survey form the nucleus of the 

 present State Museum. In 1843 these collections were placed in 

 the old State Hall for safe keeping in charge of a curator. In 1865 

 the legislature passed resolutions tending toward the expansion Of 

 the museum. In 1866 the Cohoes mastodon was discovered and 

 added to the state collection. In 1867 an appropriation was made 

 for the purchase of the Gould collection of shells, and the curator of 

 the state cabinet was directed to make a report upon the building 

 stones of New York. In the preparation of this report specimens 

 were collected which form the nucleus of the present large collec- 

 tion of building-stones. In 1870 the museum was organized by law 

 and an annual appropriation of $10,000 was voted to provide for the 

 salaries of the director and his assistants and for the maintenance of 

 the museum. In addition to this an annual appropriation of $1,500 

 was made for the salary of a state botanist. In 1881 a state entomolo- 

 gist was appointed who became, in 1883, a member of the museum 

 staff. At this time the annual appropriation was increased to 

 $15,000. In 1889, the State Museum was made an integral part of 

 the University, and the fifth floor of the new capitol was formally as- 

 signed for its use. As the new quarters are not yet completed, 

 most of the museum remains on the four floors of Geological Hall in 

 State street, corner of Lodge. Here are the collections in miner- 

 alogy, geology, paleontology, zoology and ethnology, and the offices 

 of the assistant director and assistant state geologist, and of the as- 

 sistant zoologist. The state geologist and paleontologist and the 

 state botanist have their offices in State Hall in Eagle street, and 

 the state entomologist in the north east section of the fourth floor 

 of the capitol. The State Museum in addition to its work of col- 

 lecting material representative of the natural resources of the state, 

 is also the seat of the geological and natural history survey which 

 has been in progress since 1836 and under the auspices of which 

 numerous reports have been published on geology, paleontology, 

 zoology and botany. The museum is open to the public from 9 a. 

 m. till 5 p. m. daily except Sundays, including vacations, Saturday 

 afternoons and all other holidays. 



