HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM 



American 



Ethnological 



Society. 



Allen. 



Wheeler. 



Bumpus. 



Rogers. 



Osborn. 



series of the Museum publications available for this purpose the Museum 

 now annually receives an extensive list of periodicals on natural 

 science. 



The enormous expense attached to the publication of researches 

 has led the Museum to reduce the edition of its publications, but it 

 gives them wide distribution by gratuitously depositing complete sets 

 of the publications in a hundred of the important learned centers 

 throughout the world. At the present time the Libraiy contains 

 40,000 volumes and 20,000 separata, all completely catalogued and 

 available to all who may desire to consult them. 



Since 1902 the Library has been enriched b}^ many gifts, the most 

 important of which are as follows : 



The Library of the American Ethnological Society was permanently 

 deposited with the Museum in 1903. It numbers 750 volumes and 

 270 pamphlets, mostly on ethnology and archaeology. 



In 1904 Dr. J. A. Allen presented his private library of about 

 3,800 separata on zoology. 



The Wheeler collection was also acquired in 1904. It consists of 

 121 books and pamphlets on arachnida, and many articles on 

 entomolog3'' in general brought together and presented by Professor 

 William Morton Wheeler. His library of 571 works on North American 

 Diptera was purchased by the Museum. 



Another accession of special interest in 1904 was the gift by Dr. 

 H. C. Bumpus of his entire scientific library. It is especially rich in 

 works on comparative anatomy and contains 311 volumes, 1,661 bound 

 and 1,050 unbound pamphlets, among which were many valuable 

 volumes and rare reprints new to the Museum's Library. 



A copy of "Audubon's Birds of the United States of America," 

 published in 1834 and valued at $3,000, was received in 1904 as a gift 

 from Mr. Archibald Rogers. 



A recent accession of great importance is the palaeontological 

 library of Professor Henry Fairfield Osborn, which he presented to 

 the Museum in 1908. It contains between 6,000 and 7,000 volumes, 

 valued at between $10,000 and $12,000. 



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