FORTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT 



To the Trustees and Members of The American Museum of 

 Natural History, and to the Municipal Authorities of the 

 City of New York: 



The President has the honor to submit herewith his tenth 

 annual report of the development of the American Museum 

 — the forty-eighth year of the history of the institution. On 

 April 6, 1919, the Museum will celebrate the fiftieth anniver- 

 sary of its foundation, and it is hoped that this celebration 

 may be marked by the opening of the two new buildings— the 

 Southeast Wing and the Court of Ocean Life— which the Mu- 

 seum so urgently needs for the reception and exhibition of its 

 overflowing collections. 



Next to building in importance is the increase of our Gen- 

 eral Endowment Fund. Like all other growing institutions in 



this country, our needs for general purposes have 

 Need of far outstripped the income derived from our Gen- 



Endowment era * Endowment, which amounts at the present 



time to $57,211. For several years it has been 

 necessary for the Trustees and Members of the Museum to 

 add amounts varying from $60,000 to $100,000 to operate 

 the institution and to make up the deficiency in the mainte- 

 nance allowance of the City. This is a generous method, but 

 not a financially sound one, and the gift to the General En- 

 dowment of $2,000,000 is greatly needed to insure permanently 

 the development of the Museum before entering the second 

 half century of its existence. 



The need of immediately increasing the General Endow- 

 ment is still further emphasized by the results of a careful 

 study of the salaries of the Museum, which was made during 

 the preparation of the budget for 1917. The statistics showed 



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