The Brothers Brimley 5 



there, and often referred to it as the "geological museum" and even "state 

 museum." There were, in effect, two distinct "state museums" under one 

 roof, neither of them officially so designated. The mineral cabinet, 

 however, was a legal state collection, dating at least to the mid- 1850s 

 when the General Assembly required Ebenezer Emmons, Kerr's 

 predecessor, to establish such a display in the State Capitol. At any rate, 

 on February 20, 1879 the legislature placed the survey under the jurisdic- 

 tion of the Department of Agriculture and required the commissioner, 

 "by and with the consent and advice of the Board of Agriculture" to keep 

 a "museum or collection to illustrate the agricultural and other resources 

 and the natural history of the State." The geological and agriculatural 

 collections were thus combined under this broader mandate, and the 

 State Museum was founded. 



In 1881 the Department of Agriculture purchased the old National 

 Hotel (site of the Brimleys' first Raleigh stop) to consolidate its offices. 

 The museum was assigned part of the space for displays and other collec- 

 tions, which included the remnants of exhibits made by the Board of 

 Agriculture at a number of expositions in this country and abroad. North 

 Carolina's participation in such expositions had proved quite advan- 

 tageous to a variety of economic enterprises, and the state's committment 

 to them continued. As the time for the 1884 State Centennial Exposition 

 at Raleigh approached, H.H. Brimley 's growing reputation as a taxider- 

 mist and preparator came to the attention of the board, which was plann- 

 ing and assembling exhibits on North Carolina's resources. Consequently 

 he was hired to mount a series of fishes for the display, under the direc- 

 tion of Stephen G. Worth, superintendent of fish and fisheries. Brimley 

 also made a collection of waterfowl from Currituck Sound for this exposi- 

 tion, as recounted in "Old Times on Currituck," published in North 

 Carolina Wildlife Conservation for March 1943. 



The Brimley brothers' partnership became a going concern and gave 

 them marvelous excuse to collect and study the animals of North 

 Carolina, about which little was known at that time. Although they were 

 in the natural history business to earn a living, their intellectual interests 

 were not subordinated. 1884, in addition to being noteworthy as the year 

 of H.H. Brimley's first employment by the Board of Agriculture, was also 

 the year in which the brothers began publication of a series of notes on a 

 new and exciting fauna. Initially their contributions concerned birds, and 

 most appeared in the pages of Ornithologist and Oologist. These were only 

 the first efforts, however, in a long series of publications covering many 

 topics in a noteworthy array of journals, magazines, and newspapers. 



In 1890 planning began for participation in the great World's Colum- 

 bian Exposition of 1893, and the State World's Fair Commission did not 



