6 
this stage in their enterprise, tlie Trustees, being thus able to furnish 
a substantial guarantee of their earnest determination to accomplish 
what they had taken in hand, turned in their hour of need to the 
Commissioners of the Central Park, who by their uniform devotion to 
the trusts committed to their care had done so much to advance the 
welfare and the pleasure of their fellow citizens, and proposed to deposit 
their collections, for safe keeping and exhibition, within the limits of 
the Park itself, and add the Museum to the already great attractions 
of this favorite place of resort. The Trustees were met by the 
Commissioners with the most enlightened and liberal sympathy, and 
the proposition was accepted by them with the declaration on the part 
of the Commissioners, which the event has justified, that the proposed 
plan of co-operation, which insured and combined in the enterprise the 
interests and means of the private citizen with those of the public, 
would probably be made an example and incentive for uniting the 
energies of those interested in other branches of Science and Art in 
similar undertakings. 
Thus by the favor of the Park Commissioners, at the close of the 
year in which the Charter of the Museum was granted, its valuable 
treasures first acquired wore deposited and arranged under the protec- 
tion of the People, in the Arsenal building in the Park, according to 
written articles of agreement, by which, although remaining the in- 
violable property of this private corporation, they were secured and 
preserved for the free instruction and enjoyment of all who chose to 
visit them. 
From that time to the present the Trustees acknowledge with grat- 
itude the untu-ing sympathy and co-operation of the Commissioners 
and their successors in the Department of Public Parks, by means of 
which the public has been enabled to enjoy the full benefit of all which 
the Trustees have succeeded in acquiring. The fact that the rooms 
which were allotted to the use of the Museum have been visited daily 
by thousands of all ages and classes, and that the public interest in its 
success has steadily and rapidly increased, is a satisfactory proof of the 
wisdom of that joint arrangement. 
It very soon however became evident by the rapid growth of the 
Museum, and the constant additions which accrued to its collections, 
that the temporary accommodations which were the best that the Park 
Commissioners have thus far been able to afford, were altogether 
