Collections of Fossils made for the Palaeontology 

 of New York Previous to 1883- 



By act of the Legislature, in 1855, there was made for the first 

 time an appropriation for the collection of fossils for use in the 

 preparation of the Palaeontology of JS'ew York. Previous to that 

 time all the collections for the work had been made at my own 

 expense. The field work of collecting specimens under the act 

 of 1855 was not commenced until 1856. Collections of fossils 

 were continued uninterruptedly for ten years, and with more or 

 less interruption until 1875. From that time onward no system- 

 atic collections have been made in this department ; the State 

 Geologist, and his assistants, having, from time to time, made 

 small special collections which have been needed in the progress 

 of the work. At the commencement of these collections (in 1856) 

 there was no room in the State Museum building, nor in any 

 other public building, for the disposition of these collections, and 

 in order to provide proper accommodations for the arrangement 

 and use of the material thus acquired, in the preparation of the 

 publications, the State Geologist erected at his own cost, two 

 buildings, one for the reception of the collections as they came 

 in from the field, for the cleaning, ticketing and recording of the 

 specimens. The other building was fitted up with drawers for 

 the proper arrangement of the selected specimens, which were 

 to be used in the illustration of the volumes to be published, and 

 other miscellaneous contributions to Palaeontology. As the col- 

 lections increased, more room was required and more drawers 

 were added, and the entire collection which had been made up to 

 1878, inclusive, was conveniently housed in these buildings, and 

 made accessible for study. The work of the State Geologist and 

 his assistants, a draughtsman and lithographer, were accommo- 

 dated in the same buildings. The work in every one of its phases 

 was prosecuted without interruption until 1884, and with inter- 

 ruptions coming from the operation of the law of 1883, until the 

 end of 1885. In the beginning of 1886 the State Geologist was 

 directed to transfer all the specimens in the buildings before 



