Museum of Natural History. 



Report of the Curator. 



To the Directors and Members of the City Library Association: — 



The sixteenth annual report of the Museum of Natural History 

 is hereby respectfully submitted: — 



Two principal functions devolve on the executive staff of a 

 museum : the most obvious and simple consists in the care of building, 

 cases, and collections, the cataloguing and labeling of material, the 

 preparation of special exhibits, the safeguarding of specimens, provi- 

 sion for the comfort and convenience of visitors, and the publication 

 of technical monographs and bulletins; the second, less easy to 

 describe in definite terms, is to use the museum as a means to arouse 

 an active interest in natural history, to develop love of field, forest, 

 mountain, and stream, to induce a scientific attitude towards ques- 

 tions of the individual life, and of community policy in the con- 

 stituency to which the institution ministers. 



Under the first head come the commonplace but important duties 

 which secure efficient and economical administration, but the best 

 results of museum effort are made possible only when the institution, 

 within its territory and correlated fields, becomes an active factor, an 

 aggressive influence, in advancing education and inspiring public 

 opinion. 



This report, in dealing with the work of the past year and in plans 

 for the future, distinguishes in some measure between these two 

 phases of activity under two main heads — Administration and 

 Propaganda. 



Administration. 



The association is to be congratulated that the Science Building, 

 as demonstrated by an experience of twelve years, is well adapted 

 for museum purposes. Its simplicity of construction and plan, and 

 the grouping of cases, make oversight easy and inexpensive. Clean- 

 liness, combined with neat and attractive appearance, is secured with 

 minimum effort. An advantage is also found in the limited range 



