V 



APPENDIX TO THE REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 69 



ations looking toward the transfer of the collections to Washington be 

 suspended until Congress might take such action as it deemed proper 

 in regard to the subject. This order was subsequently modified by- 

 allowing the removal to Washington of such objects as were needed for 

 the use of the Departments and all such specimens as were liable to be 

 injured by the cold and dampness which prevailed throughout the 

 building after the 10th of November. 



In view of the fact that the building, having been sold, was delivera- 

 ble to the purchaser on the 1st of March, on the 19th of January, 1877, 

 a final order was issued by the President directing the transfer of all the 

 articles to Washington, there to be stored in some suitable place or 

 places, pending congressional action. 



I remained in direct charge of the operations of receiving, packing, 

 &c, until the 9th of December, when, in obedience to your instructions, 

 I returned to Washington and left Mr. Daniel Leech, of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, to direct future operations, assisted by Messrs. Chester and 

 Brown, the mineral collection still remaining under Professor Blake's 

 special administration. These gentlemen have been diligently occu- 

 pied in the interval in packing the objects and in forwarding them to 

 Washington as fast as suitable cars could be obtained, and it is expected 

 that the entire series will be in Washington by the 10th of February. 



It was extremely fortunate that Congress gave to the Institution the 

 use of the armory building, an edifice 100 by 50 feet in dimensions, and 

 with four floors, of 5,000 square feet each, as without it it would have 

 been entirely impossible to provide for one-fourth of the collection. It 

 was intended originally that the armory should serve as a supplement 

 to the Smithsonian building by exhibiting on two of its floors the fish- 

 ery and mineral collections, but it was soon found that any idea of a 

 display there must be abandoned and the building used exclusively 

 for the storage of objects in boxes. It is now being rapidly filled on all 

 its floors in this way, and any attempt at an exhibition of its contents 

 must be deferred until a suitable building can be constructed for the 

 purpose. 



An extension of the National Museum by the construction of additional 

 wings, or other buildings, in connection with the Smithsonian edifice 

 has long been in contemplation, as for many years it has been impos- 

 sible to show many of the most interesting objects belonging to the 

 United States for want of suitable space. The Centennial collections, 

 however, being added to the former stock, has precipitated the crisis 

 in this respect and rendered it necessary that some special arrangement 

 be made at an early day for the accommodation of the entire series. 



The entire capacity of the Smithsonian building is now 25,000 feet of 

 floor space. The collections exhibited by the Institution at the Centen- 

 nial, covered about 34,000 feet of floor. The donations at the close of 

 the exhibition will certainly require 24,000 feet, while articles stored in 

 the basement, and never shown at all, call for at least 20,000 feet. 



