Mar., 1916 
THE NEW MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE OOLOGY 
73 
Joel Remington Fithian, Pres. 
Wm. Norman Campbell, V. P. 
Clinton R. Hale, Vice-Pres. 
E. P. Ripley, Vice-Pres. 
William Leon Dawson, Sec’y. 
enjoy special and perpetual privilege. Our affairs are administered by a Board 
of fifteen Trustees, and we count our cause fortunate in having official sponsors 
who by reason of social, financial, and administrative prominence, or other spe- 
cial fitness for the task in hand, make up an efficient working body. These are : 
BOARD OF TRUSTEES 
George S. Edwards, Treas. Fred H. Schauer 
Ellen S. Chamberlain Francis T. Underhill 
Clinton P. McAllaster Rebecca S. Campbell 
Lora J. Moore Etta A. Dawson 
Ednah A. Rich Marion A. Patrick 
Of these, the President, Mr. Joel Remington Fithian, deserves particular 
credit for having early and warmly espoused a cause in which he saw the future 
glory of Santa Barbara worthily reflected. The early policies of the institution 
were shaped by Mr. Fithian and his friends, and they are, in fact, co-founders. 
And if we should single out for special mention the names of E. P. Ripley, Pres- 
ident of the Santa Fe Railway system, or George S. Edwards, President of the 
Commercial Bank of Santa Barbara, or Miss Ednah Rich, President of the State 
Normal School of Manual Arts and Home Economics, it is only to give added 
assurance that the Trustees of the Museum of Comparative Oology understand 
what they are about, and will see the enterprise through. 
Building plans are already under discussion, although the building era is 
definitely deferred for three years. A commanding site with an acre of ground 
overlooking Santa Barbara is being selected, and upon this it is proposed to erect 
a closely grouped series of buildings, some twenty-two in number, of two unit 
types, one 22x40, the other 32x54 feet in dimensions. All construction will be of 
reinforced concrete, fire-and-quake-proof, with top lighting and dry heating. 
Besides an administration hall, a library building, a lecture hall, and work 
rooms, space has been estimated for the housing of a representation of 15,000 
species of birds, reckoning to each bird a unit allowance of 2075 cubic inches. 
For the architectural grouping and landscaping, the services of the distin- 
guished artist, Francis T. Underhill, have been retained. The entire group of 
buildings with their furnishings will cost upwards of $150,000, and the com- 
pleted whole, including maintenance, endowment, and research expenditures, 
will require something over half a million dollars. Needless to say this is the 
ultimate plan, a plan whose realization may require a period of twenty-five 
or thirty years. The adoption of a consistent plan of unit construction imparts 
to the whole a greatly desired flexibility. A modest beginning will be made with 
one or two biuldings, and the number of buildings will be increased from year 
to year as the requirements of accumulating specimens demand. 
The immediate program of the Museum of Comparative Oology is a very 
modest one. Owing to the writer’s previous engagement with The Birds of Cali- 
fornia Publishing Company, the new enterprise must accommodate itself to the 
old one until the task of preparing “The Birds of California” is completed. The 
Museum will cooperate with the publishing enterprise in prosecuting field work 
this coming season, although its financing and other responsibilities will be per- 
fectly distinct. The collections now housed in the author’s fire-proof studio at 
Los Colibris are crowding their allotment of space. A temporary building, 20x 
30, of corrugated iron, is being erected close to the old one, and the added space 
will be filled as rapidly as possible with new cases. The management pledges it- 
self to provide adequate housing for all material sent in, and will devote itself, 
for the ensuing three years, not only to the accumulation of desirable material. 
