400 Field Museum of Natural History — Reports, Vol. V. 



toward completion. All of the skeletons have been unpacked and four 

 cases have been installed and two are under way. The large skeletons 

 are being installed on bases in the exhibition halls. 



THE N. W. HARRIS PUBLIC SCHOOL EXTENSION OF FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



— ^At the end of the present year there were 677 cases available for 

 circulation among the public schools of Chicago. Of this number, thirty- 

 one were prepared during the year. This is a falling off from the previous 

 annual production of cases for circulation. This decrease in cases pre- 

 pared is attributed to causes which the department could not avert. 

 The principal causes were the resignation of an assistant taxidermist, 

 and the transfer of a preparator to another department. Another cause 

 was the abandonment for several weeks of practically all productive 

 work for preparations necessary for the removal from the old building 

 to the new one, and the installation there of fixtures for ofiice and 

 work-rooms. The removal of the department to the new building was 

 accomplished largely by the use of the delivery track, and without the 

 loss of a day in the delivery of cases to schools. Rather than increase 

 the production of cases by sacrificing past standards, the usual care 

 with the details of each was employed. When arranging the schedule 

 for the loaning of cases to schools during the scholastic year of 1920-192 1, 

 the latest issue (1919-1920) of the Directory of the Public Schools of 

 the City of Chicago was used. In this directory the names and 

 addresses of 23 high, and 255 main elementary schools were given. 

 In compliance with a formal request made last year that cases be also 

 loaned to high schools, seventeen were included in the present operating 

 loan schedule. For the reason that six of the listed high schools have 

 technical courses, cases are not loaned to them. Cases are loaned to 

 253 main elementary schools. Because of the great distances to two of 

 the main elementary schools, and of road conditions met with by the 

 motor truck in delivering cases to them, they have been, it is hoped, 

 only temporarily deprived of the uses of the loan cases. In addition to 

 making loans to the 253 main elementary schools, cases are also 

 loaned to 18 branches of elementary schools. Besides the 288 

 schools, made up of 17 high, 253 main elementary and 18 branch 

 elementary schools, which are scheduled to receive cases, there are other 

 schools to which cases are loaned when requested to do so. These are 

 the practice, continuation and parental schools. Based on information 

 received from the ofi&ce of the Superintendent of Schools as to the nimi- 

 ber of pupils attending public schools, it is confidently believed that 

 cases will be loaned during the present scholastic year to schools having 

 a combined enrollment of fully 344,000 pupils. This estimate is com- 



