1 8 Report of the President 



are so arranged that if an alarm is sounded, any employe in 

 the basement can tell instantly in which section of the building 

 the fire is located. 



A feature in the furnishing of the new exhibition halls has 

 been the introduction of a new type of gun-metal case with 

 marble base, designed by Director Bumpus in consultation with 

 Secretary Kent of the Metropolitan Museum. These cases 

 are put together in such a way as to facilitate the removal 

 of either side without disturbing the remaining sections or the 

 material within. The construction is simple, artistic, rela- 

 tively inexpensive, but capable of mechanical improvement 

 in certain details. 



The series of changes in the exhibition halls has facilitated 

 the transfer of the Administrative Offices of the Museum to 

 the center of the building, top floor, which is now in progress. 



PLANS FOR NEW BUILDING 



These changes emphasize the desirability of the adoption 

 and approval by the Trustees of a permanent plan of develop- 

 ment of the building, as a whole, also of a final educational 

 and scientific arrangement of all the collections. This matter 

 has been given a great deal of study by the President, in 

 consultation with the heads of various departments, and 

 especially of Anthropology, which department occupies the 

 entire western half of the building. 



A preliminary report by the President, entitled "History, 

 Plan and Scope of the American Museum of Natural History," 

 was presented at the Forty-first Annual Meeting of the 

 Trustees, February 14, 1910, in an edition of fifty copies 

 from the Irving Press. A Curators' Edition of the same 

 report will be issued early in 191 1, so that the members of 

 the scientific staff may have an opportunity of examining the 

 proposed future plans of the exhibition halls of the Museum 

 and of making any suggestions regarding these plans which 

 may be found desirable, before they are finally adopted by 

 the Board. 



