ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR. 

 1905-1906. 



To the Trustees of Field Museum of Natural History: 



The death of Mr. Marshall Field, the founder of the Museum, has 

 occurred since the date of the last report. The Trustees of the Museum 

 have expressed their estimate of Mr. Field's character and services to 

 society, by formal resolutions. The Director and scientific and busi- 

 ness staff of the institution have no opportunity of offering their 

 tribute except through the medium of this report. 



It would be difficult to convey an adequate idea of the impression 

 made upon the working body of the Museum by the death of Mr. 

 Field without apparent exaggeration, but this must be said: There 

 was no one in the service of the Museum who did not feel an uncommon, 

 solemn sense of personal loss and individual grief. 



Mr. Field visited the Museum much oftener than would have 

 been supposed by those acquainted only with his business habits. 

 He had a better understanding of the purposes, the needs, the dif- 

 ficulties, and the possibilities of the Museum than any person except 

 those intimately associated with its direct management. It cannot 

 be said that Mr. Field was proud of the Museum, but he was grateful 

 that this institution had grown up in Chicago. He was conscious 

 that his public spirit was doing good for society, and he was aware of 

 the fact that his aid had contributed to give Chicago a standing as 

 a culture seeking and teaching community, in every thoughtful, 

 intellectual center, at home and abroad. 



Mr. Field did not command respect; he invited it. No one 

 connected with the institution, from the least to the greatest in im- 

 portance, but had been made to feel by some indescribable look, 

 movement or expression, of which Mr. Field was complete master, 

 that the efforts of this particular person were understood and appre- 

 ciated by him. It gave everyone connected with the Museum the 

 greatest satisfaction to know that Mr. Field was in the building and 

 was inspecting his work. His questions and observations, though 

 often keen and searching, were always marked by modesty and defer- 

 ence, and strangers seeing him pass about the courts and halls would 

 not distinguish him from a casual visitor. 



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