ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR. 

 1908. 



To the Trustees of Field Museum of Natural History : 



I have the honor to present a report of the operations of the 

 Museum for the year ending December 31, 1908. 



From a physical point of view the condition of the Museum, while 

 in detail showing a continued advance along those lines involving the 

 better protection and more careful arrangement of the material on 

 exhibition and in storage within the building, denotes little alteration 

 except in two particulars: the increased number of new exhibition 

 cases in all Departments, and the extension of the exhibition area 

 into the East Annex. The new cases, approximating $26,000 in cost, 

 make their best impression in the Botanical Gallery, and the very 

 capable work that has been performed in transferring and rearrang- 

 ing the exhibition material gives an entirely new value to it. The 

 East Annex contained for several years the Transportation collection 

 received from exhibitors at the Columbian Exposition. The reduc- 

 tion of the scope of the Institution and the removal of these, there- 

 fore, inappropriate exhibits, vacated about twenty halls and courts, 

 and until this year that section of the building has been closed to the 

 public and used for storage and assembling purposes. The pressure 

 for floor space became so acute, however, that at the beginning of this 

 year a large part of the Annex was refloored and repaired, and 

 turned over to the Department of Anthropology, and this area now 

 contains Philippine, South Pacific, and African collections. 



A serious, and it may be said rather expensive effort has been 

 made during the year to improve the appearance of the exterior of 

 the building, but at this date it is a regrettable fact that the North 

 side of the building — the "weather" side — gives little evidence of 

 the undertaking. Mr. Akeley of the Museum staff devised a machine 

 which, with compressed air, applied liquid stucco to the exterior 

 surface. At first, and for several months, the result seemed undenia- 

 bly successful both in holding to the plaster and in preserving a uniform 

 color, but the lifeless plaster, the decayed fibre of the staff, would not 

 hold the hardened liquid, and while the general appearance of the 



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