30 Report of the President 



blind will be added as soon as possible to contain collections 

 suitable for their use. 



Other changes in progress, or planned for, are the removal 

 of the sections of great trees from the Darwin Hall to the Hall 

 of Forestry, the places where they now stand to be occupied 

 by cases to contain exhibits illustrating Variation in Nature, 

 or Under Domestication ; and the construction of cases for the 

 more appropriate installation of the ancient Chinese objects: 

 these, under more favorable conditions, should make a strik- 

 ing and attractive display. 



New Building Plans. — The architects have prepared plans 

 for important alterations in the vestibule that will make it 

 much more attractive, much more useful and vastly more fit- 

 ting for the entrance to a great museum than it is now. These 

 plans provide for a visitors' room, somewhat like that at the 

 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where visitors may arrange to 

 meet their friends and where the various publications of the 

 Museum, including guide-books and post-cards, may be seen, 

 consulted and purchased. These changes and the improve- 

 ment of the foyer, will call for the withdrawal for the time 

 being of the astronomical exhibit, for which more ample pro- 

 vision will be made in projected sections of the building. 



Registration and Cataloguing. — A most important 

 piece of administrative work has been the inauguration of 

 a new system of recording accessions, loans and exchanges, 

 which, by the energy of Mr. Pindar, and with the hearty 

 cooperation of the departments, has put the records in most 

 excellent and available shape for preservation and reference. 

 To quote from the report of the Registrar: "At the close 

 of the year, 836 accessions have been recorded, with a total 

 approximate valuation of $75,000, and for these acquisitions, 

 proper accession, donor and subject card catalogues have 

 been typewritten and placed in their proper files; many of 

 the accessions cover many items, and of necessity numerous 

 subject cards for the same accession have to be prepared. 

 There have also been card-indexed nearly all the acces- 

 sions of the Department of Anthropology from 1869-1910 

 inclusive, and with the completion of the accessions in this 



