6 



CITY LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. 



burg. In the John Brown collection there is a Hall's rifle from 

 Harper's Ferry, a collection of twenty-nine pictures to illustrate the 

 life of John Brown and the vicinity of Harper's Ferry. 



Mr. W. E. Parsons has given herbarium specimens and a number 

 of fine mineral specimens. 



Dr. William Thornton Parker has secured and presented parts 

 of the skeleton of the common rorqual or fin-back whale and an 

 interesting specimen of the ear bone of the wdiale. The skeleton 

 parts were from Eastham, Mass., and the ear bone from Provincetown. 



Mr. George S. Lewis, Jr., continues to add to his already rich 

 department of botany, and Mr. Robert O. Morris maintains an 

 active interest in local birds and mammals, so that under their care 

 both of these departments are growing in a most satisfactory way. 



Prof. William B. Kirkham has given a number of specimens and 

 also a set of scientific reference books for the Catharine L. 

 Howard Library. 



Catharine L. Howard Library. 



The annual meeting of the Catharine L. Howard Memorial 

 Library Association was held in the museum February 25th. Among 

 the valuable works presented to the library, mention should be made 

 of Gerard's "Herball, or General Historic of Plants," London, 1633. 

 Only one other copy of this work is known to be in this country. 



The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Museum. 



Your attention is called to the desirability of taking some action 

 in regard to a recognition of the coming half century anniversary 

 of the Museum. The beginnings of the collections date back 

 December 10, 1859, when a group of public-spirited citizens, among 

 whom were Judge R. A. Chapman, Daniel L. Harris, John L. King, 

 and George A. Otis', Jr., took steps to secure natural history collec- 

 tions for the use of the city. These specimens were first placed 

 in rooms in the old City Hall. In 1871 they were moved with the 

 library to the building which is now giving place to the new structure. 

 The third home was in the room now occupied by the Horace Smith 

 Hall of Sculpture in the Art Museum. In 1899 the present Science 

 Building was completed. 



It would seem fitting that at this time a history of the Museum 

 should be made up while the facts are on record or may be obtained 

 from persons familiar with the stages in the development of the 

 institution. Possibly also it might be well to hold a public meeting 

 in observance of the completion of fifty years. 



