REPORT. 



To the President and Fellows of Harvard College : — 



Twenty-five years ago, on the 13th of November, 1860, the 

 first section of the Museum building was inaugurated. It may 

 not be out of place to recapitulate the changes it has passed 

 through, and to note the gradual transition of the Museum from 

 a State institution to that of an independent department of 

 Harvard College. 



It was most natural that Professor Agassiz, with his European 

 ideas of government support for scientific establishments, should 

 primarily have looked to his adopted State for aid in carrying 

 out his cherished plans. While no one was better fitted than 

 he to interest a Legislature, and to obtain liberal appropriations 

 even in the most critical times, yet he also recognized fully the 

 value of the American method of private endowments, and 

 from the outset the Museum owed its material existence to a 

 happy combination of State aid with personal interest. In 

 time, however, with the growth of the Museum, it became more 

 and more difficult to hold together a special Board of Trustees. 

 The intimate connection of the Museum with Harvard College 

 suggested an easy remedy, and the duties hitherto performed by 

 the Trustees were relegated to the already existing governing 

 boards of the University. By this consolidation with Harvard 

 College, the Museum, while it lost the immediate support of the 

 State, gained the good will and interest of the College students, 

 the class upon whom it must eventually depend for its main- 

 tenance. To the graduates of Harvard interested in the study 

 of nature the Museum must appeal for intellectual and mate- 

 rial support. With the ever-increasing influence of the natural 

 sciences, the field of the Museum becomes a large one, and men 

 must be found who will devote themselves to its interests and 

 keep it abreast of the requirements of a great University. 



