MORRIS KETCHUM JESUP 
and Constable. This was the first step toward an exploring policy 
which has now developed (as the history of the various departments 
shows in subsequent pages of this report) into the sending of expedi- 
tions to all regions of the world. 
In 1888 the economic importance of insect life was emphasized in 
the appointment of Mr. Beutenmiiller as Curator of Entomology and 
in the beginning of a collection of economic entomology showing the 
relations of insect life to forestry. The naturalistic methods introduced 
in the bird and mammal department were followed here with equal 
success. 
In 1891 Professor Henry Fairfield Osborn was called from Princeton Vertebrate 
as Curator of Mammalian Palseontology, and the Museum entered on a P*'==°"toiogy. 
new line of scientific development in the long history of the vertebrate 
life of the earth, in which it has now attained first rank. Mr. Jesup 
contributed liberally to the purchase of three great collections and to 
the dispatching of an expedition to Africa. 
In the mean time the spirit of hospitality to various scientific insti- scientific 
tutions of the city and country, and of cooperation with other institu- Societies, 
tions, led to the opening of courses of lectures both by Columbia 
University and by the Board of Education, in addition to the multi- 
plying courses given in the Museum's Department of Public Instruction. 
The year 1895 was noteworthy as marking the first effort to bring peary. 
Robert E. Peary home from the Arctic regions. In response to an 
appeal from Mrs. Peary, Mr. Jesup fitted out a relief expedition, and 
thus began his interest in the work of the explorer, which was con- 
tinued in successive contributions to Peary's expeditions, finally result- 
ing in the discovery of the Pole. Indirectly the Museum has benefited 
by becoming the depository of all of Peary's remarkable collections, 
including several animals new to science. 
The most noteworthy scientific feature of Mr. Jesup's administra- Anthropology 
tion was the establishment of the Department of Anthropology on a 
commanding basis, under the inspiring direction of Professor Frederic 
W. Putnam, of Cambridge. The beginning of the Department dates 
back to the inception of the Museum and includes the acquisition of 
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