21 



Office of the Board of Commissioners of 

 The Central Park, Bank of Commerce Building, 

 31 Nassau St., New-York, Jan. 21, 1870. 



Dear Sir — I have the pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of your 

 letter of the 23d ultimo, relating to the deposits of certain collections 

 with the Park Commissioners by the American Museum of Natural His- 

 tory. The terms upon which it is proposed to make these deposits are 

 such as will, I think, secure the object that the Museum and the Park 

 Commissioners equally desire, to wit, an establishment that shall afford 

 opportunity for popular instruction and amusement, and for the ad- 

 vancement of the Natural Sciences. If the plan which insures and 

 combines in this enterprise the interests and means of the private citi- 

 zen, with those of the public, is productive of all the good results that 

 may reasonably be expected, it will probably be made at once an exam- 

 ple and incentive for uniting the energies of those interested in other 

 branches of science and art in similar undertakings. 



In accepting these extensive and valuable collections on the condi- 

 tions specified, permit me to express, on behalf of the Park Commis- 

 sioners, their high appreciation of the enlightened sentiment that has 

 provided so generously for all interested in this department of science, 

 and, at the same time, the hope that this auspicious beginning may, by 

 the continued augmentation of similar liberalities, become an un- 

 equalled treasury of science alike honorable to the public spirit of the 

 citizens by whom it has been inaugurated, and an indispensable aid to 

 those engaged in efforts to increase the knowledge of the science that it 

 is intended to illustrate. 



Very respectfully and truly, 



ANDREW H. GREEN, Comptroller of the Park. 



W. A. Haines, Esq., 



Gliairman of the Executive Committee of the American Museum. 



The above was confirmed by the action of the present Board, per let- 

 ter below, in answer to our inquiry addressed to the Honorable Peter B. 

 Sweeney, President of the Department of Public Parks. 



Department of Public Parks, 

 31 Nassau Street, 

 New-York, June l<kth, 1870. 

 W. A. Haines, Esq., 



Chairman Executive Committee American Museum of Natural 



History : 



Sir — At a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Department 



of Public Parks, held this day, the following resolution was adopted: 



