Report of the President 3 1 



butterflies, and these objects, secured by the expenditure of 

 much time, labor and money, must be cared for. 



Museums were, and are, leaders in the conservation move- 

 ment of which we hear so much now-a-days; preservation is 

 their first law, and it is as important to take care of specimens 

 as it is to obtain them. 



The most crying need of the exhibits is for labels; objects 

 may be of great interest in themselves, but they are illustra- 

 tions without text. One hundred thousand labels are still 

 needed to accompany the exhibits, and a special effort will be 

 made during the coming years towards supplying this deficiency. 



The establishment of the Director's Fund has proved of 

 much service, and by its use for various departments it has 

 been possible not only to secure such desirable specimens as 

 the Forest Hogs and African Crested Rat, but to carry on 

 some very important work. 



The untimely death of the talented artist, Louis Akin, has 

 placed a temporary check on the execution of the plan for a 

 series of mural paintings for the Southwest Indians Hall. 

 The preliminary figure studies had been prepared and Mr. 

 Akin expected to have the sketches for the sixteen panels 

 well advanced this year. 



Building Operations. — The alterations in the Vestibule, 

 noted in the report for 191 1 as having been planned by the 

 architects, Messrs. Trowbridge and Livingston, have been car- 

 ried out, the result being a vast improvement in the entrance 

 hall, which is for the first time what it should be — both attrac- 

 tive and dignified. The improvements include the Visitors' 

 Room, mentioned in the previous report, where visitors may 

 arrange to meet their friends, examine and purchase the vari- 

 ous publications of the Museum and write notes. 



In Memorial Hall, the tablets, with suitable inscriptions for 

 the busts of American Men of Science, have been donated by 

 Mrs. Morris K. Jesup, and will be put in place early in 19 13. 



There have been, naturally, a few inquiries for the astro- 

 nomical exhibit that has been necessarily withdrawn, pending 

 the providing of future quarters in the Astronomical Hall; but 

 the slight educational loss occasioned by the withdrawal of 



