





i 



i 















d 













































































r 







Exhibit of domestic chickens, 1920—1940. The case of monkeys to the right suggests Hall 13 in the west ivitig, a disphiy 

 area that was divided betiveen birds and mammals. This is currently the bird hall. 



167 temporary WPA employees were in the building. 

 "The project proceeded smoothly, not only as a result 

 of the efficient organization but also because many of 

 the workers had gained experience from the previous 

 year.'" ' 



There continued to be fluctuations in numbers, and 

 a gradual decrease the next year. In 1940 WPA help 

 ended, and was eulogized in the Annual Report: "The 

 termination of this project on April 15 was felt in all 

 departments of the Museum. Aside from the care given 

 in arranging the study collections and conducting nu- 

 merous other tasks related to the preservation of the 

 material, the cataloguing and numbering of specimens 

 were of direct aid to research, for the material thus 

 handled became readily available for study by our own 

 staff and other technical workers. The departure of 

 these assistants brings loss to the Museum. . . . Their 

 accomplishments were of permanent value, and it is 

 hoped that their service at the Museum was of equal 

 value to them in making them better fitted to take their 

 places in the outside world."" 



There is no doubt that the use of temporary help 

 was a mixed blessing. Some of the collections benefited 

 from the extra attention; a card catalogue prepared for 

 the meteorite collection and a picture file of decapod 

 crustaceans are still in use. But Henry Collins remem- 

 bered a terrible muddle made by an unemployed dress- 

 maker who renumbered collections. 1. Dale Stewart 



noted that the WPA employees could put a number on 

 a bone when instructed, but then could do nothing 

 more with it. Waldo Wedel recalled a drunken drafts- 

 man whose table was covered with newspaper; an inked 

 line began along a straightedge and then angled off to 

 follow a line between the columns of newsprint. Still, 

 he remembered another WPA employee as the best 

 typist he ever encountered. At best, keeping unskilled 

 help occupied was a drain on the staff. 



Late in the WPA period, before the free help ran 

 out, the National Collection of Fine Arts made some 

 renovations, replacing tons of weak plaster, painting, 

 and covering the walls with a light-colored monk's cloth. 

 Otherwise, little of this extra help was directed toward 

 the exhibits. Coal dust was everywhere, and because 

 the building shook slightly from the machinery on the 

 ground floor under the geology halls, the dust moved 

 off the specimens in the cases and accumulated in elon- 

 gate windrows. The usual method of dealing with this 

 was to open the top of the case and blow. 



Just before the Second World War, the elevators in 

 the lobby and the rotunda were replaced; after thirty 

 years, it was high time. These were about the only major 

 expenditures having anything to do with exhibitions. 

 For two decades, work at the Museum had looked in- 

 ward toward research and toward increase and main- 

 tenance of collections, not outward toward the general 

 public. □ 



Inlerrefrmmi 



77 



