ORIGIN OF THE MUSEUM 
This Committee nominated the Trustees of the new Museum. Mr. 
John D. Wolfe was elected Chairman, and Mr. Howard Potter, Treasurer 
pro tern. The next meeting of the Trustees was held at the residence 
of Mr. Haines, and Theodore Roosevelt was made Secretary. A plan 
for subscriptions was then considered, and this eventful meeting, the 
results of which actually installed the first great museum devoted to 
natural science in New York City, adjourned. 
The conception of the Museum, its original purposes and its future 
may be gathered from passages in the First Annual Report of President 
Wolfe: "That, recognizing the necessity of such a Museum as a means 
of education and recreation, and desiring its establishment upon a 
scale commensurate with the wealth and importance of our great 
city ... we have, if properly supported and aided with funds by 
our fellow citizens, a guarantee of a prosperous future in the formation 
of a Museum of Natural History that will be second to none, and which, 
while affording amusement and instruction to the public, will be the 
means of teaching our youth to appreciate the wonderful works of the 
Creator." 
The original officers were the following : 
President 
John David Wolfe 
Vice-Presidents 
Robert L. Stuart William A. Haines 
Secretary 
A. G. Phelps Dodge 
Treasurer 
Howard Potter 
Chairman of the Executive Committee 
William A. Haines 
The original letter of application was sent to the Commissioners of 
Central Park on December 30, 1868. The Commissioners accepted 
on January 13, 1869, the responsibility of "the establishment of a 
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