ROBERT L. STUART 
The question of maintenance was also a seiious difficulty. The Maintenance. 
City had not carried out its original agreement to maintain the insti- 
tution, and in 1878, Messrs. Potter and Choate were appointed a special 
committee to prepare a bill to enable a permanent contract to be made 
between the Museum and the Department of Parks for adequate 
annual maintenance. In 1879, Messrs. Auchincloss and Bickmore 
solicited the Legislature for an increase in maintenance to $20,000. 
The appropriation obtained for the Museums of Art and Natural His- 
tory for a common maintenance had been $40,000. In 1875 they 
received $1,390, and in 1876, $1,538. The growth of the mainte- 
nance fund from the beginning to the present time is shown in another 
part of this report. 
The staff of the Museum at the opening of the year 1878, was as staff, 
follows : 
Professor Albert S. Bickmore, Superintendent. 
Dr. J. B. Holder, Assistant. 
Professor R. P. ^Vhitfield, Curator of Geology. 
The coming of Professor Whitfield added greatly to the scientific 
strength and prestige of the Museum. Alliances had been formed with 
the United States National Survey of the 40th parallel, and several 
distinguished members of its Corps were housed in the Museum, includ- 
ing Clarence King, Raphael Pumpelly, Arnold Hague, and others. 
In 1875, the Museum lost one of its Founders, Mr. William T. 
Blodgett, and in 1878, Mr. Theodore Roosevelt died in the forty-fifth 
year of his age. In 1880, Mr. William A. Haines died in the fifty- 
eighth year of his age. The Trustees recorded their great appreciation 
of the services of these founders and active friends. 
Manhattan Square, far beyond the residence district, was grad- 
ually becoming approachable. The Park Board developed its walks 
on the south side. It is of interest to record that the Trustees in 1876 
petitioned the Legislature to allow them to establish an Aquarium 
in connection with the Museum, of sufficient size to enable the public 
to learn on a somewhat satisfactory scale the form and habits of a 
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