412 SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 
exhibit was the finest thing in the whole Exposition, and 
the universal verdict was heartily favorable. 
Miss Lucy Baird in her reminiscences refers to the 
matter as follows: 
“In the winter of 1873-74 a bill was passed for the 
Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. A government 
board was appointed, my father being put in charge of 
the Museum and Fish Commission work. With his usual 
energy he began to prepare a very carefully elaborated 
scheme in which the staff and Professor G. Brown Goode 
rendered invaluable aid. The summer of 1875—during 
which time Wood’s Hole was the scene of the Summer 
campaign of the Fish Commission—was, to a certain 
extent, dominated by the necessary preparations for the 
Exposition, and during the entire year collections were 
being made and all the material brought together for 
making an extensive display. 
““My father was, of course, in Philadelphia from time 
to time before the period of the opening of the Exposition; 
and in May, we took up our permanent abode there, to 
remain until its close. Professor William P. Blake, of 
New Haven, who was actively associated with the work, 
and my father, took a house together on the corner of 
Preston and Hutton Streets, in West Philadelphia, in 
order that they might be within walking distance of the 
Exposition. My father remained in Philadelphia until 
the early part of December, the only long absence being 
a vacation of two or three weeks spent in Carlisle, for my 
mother’s benefit; as she had been made very ill by the 
intensely hot weather. After the close of the public 
exhibition, my father remained, to see to the packing 
up of the exhibits under his charge for return to Washing- 
ton. During this time, with the aid of Professor William 
