6 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



erected for state offices in 1797 during the governorship of John 

 Jay, and it was made over in 1855 i nto the present Geological Hall. 



By virtue of an act passed May 10, 1845, an d constituting chap- 

 ter 179 of the laws of that year, the Regents of the University, 

 to whom was committed the care of the " State Cabinet of Nat- 

 ural History " were authorized to make a suitable provision for 

 the safe-keeping of the collections and a small appropriation was 

 made to defray the expenses of custodianship. Under the au- 

 thority thus vested in the Regents of the University, annual re- 

 ports were begun upon the condition of the State Cabinet of 

 Natural History, the first of these being dated Ap. 11, 1848. The 

 administration of the affairs of the natural history collections 

 was carried on as an independent charge of the Regents for many 

 years, during which period the scientific investigations which 

 were being prosecuted by Prof. James Hall in paleontology, Dr 

 Ebenezer Emmons in agriculture and geology, and by Dr Asa 

 Fitch in entomology were entirely independent of the organiza- 

 tion of the State Cabinet. 



The custodianship of the collections was first assigned to John 

 Washington Taylor who was succeeded by John Gebhard jr and 

 he, in 1859, was followed by Col. Ezekiel Jewett. After seven 

 years of service Colonel Jewett resigned and in 1866 Professor 

 Hall was made curator of the State Cabinet. 



To this time the development of the museum along truly scientific 

 lines had been but slight. The collections had failed to exemplify the 

 progress of scientific investigations in the State, and although it was 

 supposed that they would continue to be the depository of the 

 scientific work still in progress this did not altogether prove to be 

 the case. Provision was made for their development and increase 

 only by the most meager annual appropriations and the condition 

 aroused the solicitude both of the Board of Regents and of the 

 friends of science throughout the State. In 1865 the Legislature 

 passed a series of resolutions tending to the expansion of the State 

 Cabinet, and following this the Regents of the University ad- 

 dressed a letter to numerous scientific men throughout the coun- 

 try asking suggestions as to the best mode of putting in force 

 the objects of the Legislature as expressed in the resolutions 

 referred to. In consequence thereof the Regents in the annual 

 report dated 1866 submitted a " plan for placing the State Cabi- 

 net of Natural History in the condition required by the present 

 state of science; to maintain it in full efficiency as a museum of 

 scientific and practical geology and comparative zoology," com- 



