Early view of the south side uj the new i\ati<)ii(il Mu.seunt. probably taken from tuvjer of the Castle before orld War /. 



of the south pavilion in which the main entrance is 

 located, was, however, completed, as were also the roofs 

 and the skylights of the building generally. . . .Good 

 progress was made in the preparation and construction 

 of furniture for the new building, more especially for 

 the storage rooms and laboratories, in which it is in- 

 tended, so far as possible, to utilize the best quality of 

 fireproof material."" 



Of course, nothing goes easily. The optimists who 

 had assumed that the building would be completed by 

 June 1909 had not renewed the lease on rented storage 

 space, and the bulk of the stored collections had to be 

 moved into several of the new exhibit halls. Although 

 Rathbun complained that "this summary action pre- 

 vented the assorting and proper assignment of material 

 . . . and will necessarily cause some inconvenience in 

 the final adjustment of the collections, "'~ it does seem 

 clear from this remark that he was a patient, long- 

 suffering man, slow to anger — at least in his official 

 writings. 



Rathbun's report continued: 



On August 10, 1909, occupation of the third story, 

 which is divided into rooms for laboratories, 

 reserve collections, and offices, was obtained from 



the superintendent of construction, although at the 

 time the story was unprovided with doors, and 

 temporary expedients had to be adopted for the 

 protection of such property as was first moved. On 

 November 9 following, the remaining stories of the 

 main building were turned over to the Museum, 

 and while constructive work of a subordinate 

 character continued to be carried on during most 

 of the rest of the year, it cannot be said to have 

 materially interfered with Museum operations. 

 The mechanical plant was completed in ample 

 time to meet the requirements of the winter 

 season, the boilers being put into permanent 

 service on October 15, 1901.'^ 



Congress came up with a supplemental appropriation 

 to allow for grading and construction of roads on the 

 outside and to paint the walls on the inside. 



The last construction work on the new National Mu- 

 seum was finished on June 20, 1911. The annual re- 

 ports for the next several years discuss problems of 

 leaks in the new roofs and how a great amount of metal 

 flashing had to be taken up and replaced; but like the 

 delivery of granite, this too was ultimately completed. 



□ 



Building the Building 



31 



