Oct.  1895.  Annual  Report  of  the  Director. 
'3 
Arts,  2;  Transportation,  2;  Zoology,  23.  *A  printed  acknowledgment 
form  is  sent  with  each  publication  so  that  the  Museum  may  be  more 
certain  to  be  apprised  of  the  receipt  of  the  publications.  A  request 
is  added  in  each  case  that  the  publications  of  the  recipient  be  sent  in 
exchange.  About  100  personal  letters  have  been  written  requesting  that 
back  volumes  be  sent  to  complete  sets  of  books,  journals,  etc.,  already 
on  the  shelves  of  the  Library,  or  asking  to  be  placed  on  the  per- 
manent mailing  list  for  contemporaneous  publications. 
Library — The  Library  was  organized  in  March,  1894.  At  that 
time  the  collections  of  books  on  hand  were  1,390  titles  from  the  De- 
partment of  Ethnology,  and  350  titles  from  the  Department  of  Mines 
and  Mining  of  the  Exposition.  The  Kunz  collection  of  books 
on  Geology,  Gems,  Metallurgy,  etc.,  and  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio 
collection  on  Transportation  were  added  shortly  afterward.  There 
were  6,300  titles  and  460  titles  respectively  in  these  two  libraries. 
The  Cory  collection  on  Ornithology,  consisting  of  587  volumes  was 
purchased  and  added  to  the  Library  on  October  5,  1894.  Through 
the  generosity  of  Beloit  College  the  splendid  ornithological  library  of 
Edward  E.  Ayer  has  been  conditionally  presented  to  the  Museum. 
The  total  number  of  books  accessioned  and  inventoried  to 
October  1,  1894,  was:  Gifts,  2,864;  loans,  869,  purchases,  3,406. 
The  accessions  during  the  year  October,  1894^0  October,  1895,  have 
been:  Gifts,  421  bound  volumes,  and  465  pamphlets;  loans,  123 
bound  volumes  and  79  pamphlets;  purchases,  1,170  bound  volumes, 
51  unbound  volumes,  and  16  pamphlets.  All  books  published  in 
foreign  countries  have  been  purchased  through  agents  in  London, 
Berlin  and  Leipzig.  Most  American  books  have  been  purchased 
through  Chicago  houses.  $3,500.00  was  appropriated  for  the  purchase, 
of  books  for  the  Library,  of  which  approximately  $1,000.00  was  spent 
for  general  reference  works,  sets  of  scientific  perodicals,  etc.,  and 
about  $500.00  for  books  in  each  of  the  Departments  of  Anthropology, 
Botany,  Geology,  Zoology  and  Industrial  Arts.  The  whole  number 
of  periodicals  subscribed  for  is  94.  A  large  number  of  the  volumes 
received  from  the  Department  of  Ethnology  of  the  Exposition  were 
unbound,  and  as  a  matter  of  preservation  were  sent  to  the  bindery, 
together  with  the  accumulating  numbers  of  current  scientific  periodi- 
cals and  old  sets  of  unbound  but  valuable  publications.  The  total 
number  of  volumes  bound  is  495.  The  large  collection  of  pamphlets 
acquired  in  the  "Kunz  Collection"  have  been  classified  according  to 
subjects,  and  fastened  in  cheap  bindings,  making  them  thus  avail- 
able for  immediate  and  constant  use. 
A  new  system  of  shelf  classification  has  been  prepared  on  the 
