State Museum of Natural History. 



11 



By chapter 206, Laws of 1888, the Superintendent of Public 

 Buildings was required to furnish to the Grand Army of the 

 Republic, a suitable room or rooms for the preservation of its 

 records, and for the establishment of a central office. In pursu- 

 ance of this law, the trustees of the Museum were requested to 

 surrender one of the rooms which they were in possession of in 

 the State Hall. This room was not essential to the uses of the 

 Museum until the entire building could be surrendered to the 

 trustees for that purpose. Under these circumstances, the trustees 

 did not feel that they could consistently refuse to grant this room 

 to the Grand Army of the Republic, until such time that the 

 Museum would be in a position to make use of it. The room, 

 therefore, on the second floor at the southwest corner of the build- 

 ing, has been given up to the Grand Army of the Republic, and is 

 now in their possession. 



No progress has been made during the past year in transferring 

 the Museum to the State Hall. The condition affixed to the 

 original law, namely, that the Museum should have possession of 

 the rooms when they were vacated by the State officers, has, during 

 the past year, been fulfilled in no further degree than before. The 

 Comptroller and Treasurer, and the State Engineer and Surveyor, 

 and the State Board of Charities still occupy rooms there. And it 

 appears now, as the New Capitol approaches completion, that these 

 State officers will continue to occupy the rooms which they now 

 hold in the State Hall. If this is the case, then the plan, which 

 originally was thought feasible, falls to the ground. The State 

 Hall can not be made use of for the collections of the Museum. 

 It, therefore, becomes a very pressing and serious matter to make 

 some other provision for the collections now in the State Museum. 

 The building in which the Museum is chiefly established is not 

 fire-proof, and nothing will prevent the entire destruction of the 

 invaluable collections which are now gathered there. We recom- 

 mend, therefore, that early and serious attention be given to this 

 subject. As the Trustees of the Museum, which is the property of 

 the State, we do not feel content to allow the trust which has been 

 bestowed upon us to remain in this dangerous condition. 



During the past year several bulletins have been published. 

 It will be remembered that Bulletin No. 2 was issued by the 

 Museum during the year 1887. It is entitled " Contributions to 

 the Botany of the State of New York," by Charles H. Peck, State 



