Museum of Natural History. 



Report of the Curator. 



To th€ Members of the City Library Association the curator 

 respectfully presents the eig'hteenth annual report of the Museum of 

 Natural History: — 



VvHiile the province of all natural history museums is the same 

 in general, each to fulfill its opportunity must proceed in accordance 

 with the needs of its community. Thus arises the importance of 

 understanding these needs and meeting them. 



Realization of what is wanted of our museum is not a recent 

 development. Each year's consideration of what is sought makes 

 stronger the conviction that its collections are equipment or tools that 

 can only be put to the fullest use in connection with regular and sus- 

 tained courses of instruction. The experiences of the past year 

 v/holly strengthen such conviction and invite a survey of what are our 

 implements, to what extent are they used, and how can means be 

 found to extend their uses. 



The Catharine L. Howard Library. 



The advantages of having an excellent reference library directly 

 connected with the museum are obvious. Appreciation of its benefits 

 constantly increases. Notable additions during the past year, such 

 as the New International Encyclopedia; published results of scientific 

 research in astronomy, geology, botany, and zoology, put into the 

 hands of all, some of the best to be had along these lines, and the 

 recent gift of $1,000 from Miss Jessie Fellowes Tapley, an alumna 

 of the school, enlarges such possibilities. The founders of the library 

 welcome its freest use, and added to this is the most cordial helpful- 

 ness from the city library and its staff which makes complete the 

 equipment for reference work. 



Collections. 



Healthful growth in every department is steadily going on and in 

 the botanical section during the past year have particularly notice- 

 able results been achieved. The association has a great benefactor 



