AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



35 



President for their purchase, — for the first two years usually without avail, 

 owing to the lack of funds. 1 



The year 1887, however, proved to be epochal in the history of the 

 department, not only through the addition of scientific material but in 

 other lines of development. It was in this year that the Trustees pur- 

 chased the George N. Lawrence collection of birds, a strictly research 

 collection of immense historic importance, numbering some 12,000 speci- 

 mens of (mainly) tropical American birds; and also the Herbert H. Smith 

 collection of 4000 birds from southern Brazil. The D. G. Elliot collection 

 of 2000 humming birds (including many types) was presented by Mr. 

 Elliot, and a collection of about 2250 Arizona birds was presented by Dr. 

 Edgar A. Mearns, U. S. A. Further accession, comprising some 500 North 

 American birds, were also added, partly by purchase and partly through 

 the Elliot-Richardson Expedition to Montana (noteworthy as the first 

 Museum expedition from this department), making the grand total of 

 21,000 birds added in this notable year, besides a large number of nests 

 and eggs and some osteological material. The previous year a taxidermist, 

 Mr. Jenness Richardson, had been added to the personnel of the depart- 

 ment, through which means 18 bird groups were added to the exhibition 

 collection, these forming the beginning of the Museum's magnificent series 

 of 'Habitat Groups.' 



During this year the efficiency of the department was further greatly 

 enhanced by the purchase of the D. G. Elliot ornithological library, con- 

 sisting of about 1000 carefully selected volumes, thus providing the Mu- 

 seum with an ornithological library surpassed by few similar libraries in 

 this country. A large number of moth-proof tin cans were also provided 

 for the safe storage of the rapidly increasing research collections. 



The reception and care of these large accessions naturally checked 

 progress in cataloging and labeling the exhibition collections, but the bird 

 collection as a whole had suddenly been transformed from merely a show 

 collection to one of impressive scientific importance. 



Thus far the curator had had to depend upon his own efforts in catalog- 

 ing, labeling, and caring for the collections, except for a little aid now and 

 then from interested volunteer assistants; but in 1888, Mr. Frank M. Chap- 



1 From the Treasurer's Report for the year 1885, it appears that the contribution by the City 

 toward maintenance was $15,000, and that the income from invested funds was $300. The rest of the 

 $30,509 expended for running expenses was met by personal contributions of the Trustees. The addi- 

 tional $6,054 expended for collections and for books for the library came also from private sources. 



It is of interest to compare, in this connection, the income and expenditures in 1915 with those of 

 1885, as indicative of the growth of the Museum in resources during the thirty-year interval. The 

 financial statement for 1915, as given in the Forty-seventh Annual Report of the Trustees, shows the 

 contribution from the City to have been $200,000, leaving a deficit of $38,500 to be met by personal 

 contributions of the Trustees. The net receipts from endowment are given as $265,275.10. 



