HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM 
Museum of Natural History, costing ere its final completion, 
not less than $6,000,000, and embracing a collection of objects 
of scientific interest second to none other in the world. . . . 
^Vhat nobler exhibitions could be given of the crowning 
achievements of this municipality than those which this 
Museum and its sister institution, the Art Gallery, will 
afford!" 
Equipment. 
Study 
Collections, 
From June 2, 1874, to December 22, 1877, was occupied in the 
building and equipping of this section, the City having appropriated 
$200,000 for the purpose. The new building was opened to the pub- 
lic on December 22, 1877, and at this time a contract of great 
importance was concluded between the Trustees of the Museum and 
the Department of Parks. This contract, or it might be called 
Charter of the institution, was drawn by Messrs. Andrew H. Green 
and Joseph H. Choate. It was entitled "Contract with the Depart- 
ment of Public Parks for the Occupation of the New Building." It 
recited the previous correspondence and legislation relating to the 
respective rights and obligations of the Museum and of the City, and 
embodied all the previous provisions in a new and comprehensive 
document. It was adopted by the Park Commissioners January 30, 
1878. 
The Museum's collections had now greatly increased in all depart- 
ments of natural history. A generous donation by Miss Catharine 
L. Wolfe, in memoiy of her father, had established the Libraiy, 
in March, 1874. 
The building up of the study collections, as distinguished from 
the exhibition collections, had begun in 1873, and from this time on 
the Museum as a center of study and research became increasingly 
prominent. The great collection of fossils of the State of New York, 
brought together by Professor James Hall, was acquired. It had been 
said by Louis Agassiz that "whoever gets Hall's collection gets the 
Geological Collection of America." The Trustees acquired it for 
$65,000, a sum which put a severe strain upon the finances of the 
Museum for several years. 
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