State Museum of Natural History, 15 



Since the period of rearrangement in 1886-1890, the accession 

 of collections in every department has filled and overcrowded the 

 rooms of the State Museum building and lately by cooperation 

 of the Secretary of the Agricultural Society, the Museum has 

 secured communication with, and lodgment in the rooms of the 

 latter for a valuable collection of the woods of the State of New 

 York, and other objects of general interest. 



It has not been my intention to go into any detailed account of 

 the progress of the Museum collections, but merely to show that 

 in the place where, a few years since, there was an abundance of 

 space for additional collections, that space is now excessively over- 

 crowded and has overflowed into the Agricultural rooms. Three 

 important, departments have been forced to seek quarters else- 

 where and still more space is required for the exhibition and 

 storage of collections in several of the departments. 



Since Mr. Merrill has come into the Museum he has given 

 especial attention to our needs in regard to additional space for 

 exhibition rooms and for laboratories for the different depart- 

 ments, in order that the Museum staff may do its work efficiently 

 and satisfactorily. I would most earnestly recommend the con- 

 centration of the Museum and its offices in a well lighted fire-proof 

 building, where we may have at least thirty -two thousand square feet 

 available for exhibition 'purposes alone, with the possibility of addi- 

 tional space to accommodate the growth and increase in each one 

 of the departments. In addition to this, there should be ample 

 space for offices and laboratories with the convenience of a work- 

 ing library in each one. 



The few words at the commencement of my statement are suf- 

 ficient to show your honorable body the great disadvantages 

 under which we now labor, and these disabilities can only be 

 removed by a concentration of the work and collections under one 

 roof. 



In this connection I would beg leave to call your attention to 

 the " Geological and Natural History Survey " of the state which 

 has been so long in existence, and which for a long time was carried 

 on single handed and in a single department only. The recogni- 

 tion of a State Botanist and of a State Entomologist by 

 legislative enactment was an extension and continuation of 

 the original plan in the same direction, and intended as a step 

 to a more complete organization. Perhaps the law of 1883 



