36 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



by government appropriations, which have been sufficient to meet the 

 actual cost of maintenance and a restricted supervision, although with 

 a larger fund the Museum could be placed on a more satisfactory basis, 

 and one much more serviceable to science. 



Attention has been called, in several previous reports of my lamented 

 predecessor, to the importance of suitable provision for the accommo- 

 dation of the vast amount of material now stored in the Armory build- 

 ing and in the basement of the Smithsonian edifice, and thus withdrawn 

 from public examination. This surplus consists of the following essen- 

 tial elements: 



First, the collections made by the United States exploring expeditions. 



Second, the contributions sent by private individuals who reside in 

 every section of the country. 



Third, the exhibits of the Smithsonian Institution, the Indian Bu- 

 reau, and the United States Fish Commission, at the Centennial. 



Fourth, the donations to the United States by domestic and foreign 

 visitors and commissions on that occasion. '■ 



The number of private contributions to the National Museum con- 

 tinues to increase in value and magnitude year by year, and embraces 

 specimens of mineralogy and geology, objects of American antiquity, 

 and other desirable articles. The government surveys, too, of Messrs. 

 Hayden, Wheeler, and Powell have furnished a very large number of 

 specimens of great value as illustrating the reports published by these 

 parties. It is, however, under the two last- mentioned heads (the Cen- 

 tennial exhibits and donations) that by far the greater amount of this 

 unexbibited material is comprised. 



By means of an appropriation by Congress, as fully set forth in the 

 Beports for 1875 (pages 8 and 46) and for 1876 (pages 8-11, 42, and 

 75-77), the Smithsonian Institution was enabled to exhibit a very full 

 collection illustrating the animal and mineral resources of the United 

 States ; the Fish Commission to present every variety of boat, net, hook 

 and line, harpoon, and other fishing implements, as well as models and 

 illustrations of all the fishes useful for food or other purposes ; the In- 

 dian Bureau to show a valuable representative ethnological series of 

 ancient implements, of dressed figures, and of objects illustrating the 

 life and customs of the North American aborigines. 



At the close of the Exhibition, the foreign commissioners, induced by 

 a desire to do honor to the United States, presented, with scarcely an 

 exception, the whole of their exhibits (corresponding with those made 

 by the Smithsonian Institution) to the United States Government, em- 

 bracing the contents of many thousands of square feet in the different 

 Centennial buildings. Of forty-one foreign commissions, thirty-four gave 

 to the United States cillier the whole of their displays or a full series, 

 probably representing 75 per cent, of all such matter as was shown under 

 tlie patronage of the respective governments. 



Many private exhibitors from abroad made similar contributions, some 



