10 
EEPOET OF NEW JEESEY STATE MUSEUM. 
All of the above material belonging to the State was, after the Cen¬ 
tennial Exposition, placed in the State House at Trenton. 
STATE MUSEUM IN' 1877. 
In the report of George H. Cook, State Geologist in 1877, we find 
the following account of the Museum of the Geological Survey: 
“This Museum occupies all the front of the third story of the State House. 
It is open every week day. The specimens of the Geological Exhibit at the 
Centennial, and most of those of the Agricultural Exhibit, are arranged here. 
It is visited by our own citizens from all parts of the State and by strangers 
who come to see the State House, and its various departments and offices. In 
this way our various minerals and other natural products are brought to the 
notice of large numbers of people. It is desirable to add to the collection any 
specimens from the State which will improve it, in variety and quality, and 
donations for this purpose will be gladly received and placed on exhibition 
with the name of the donor.” 
Much of the material in the Museum was destroyed by fire in 1885, 
when a part of the State House was burned. The remainder was care¬ 
fully assorted, relabeled and preserved to form the nucleus of the 
present geological collection. 
THE GEOLOGICAL MUSEUM. 
The Museum of the Geological Survey was established by Chapter 
222, Laws of 1890, and rooms were ordered provided. The collec¬ 
tions belonging to the State are those which formed a part of the old 
State Museum, and which were sent to the exposition at New Orleans, 
and the materials collected during the progress of the Survey since 
that .time and stored at New Brunswick. “They are mostly good rep¬ 
resentative specimens of ores, rocks, minerals, clays, marls and woods 
of the State, and are nearly all suitable for a new museum. In view 
of the establishment of a museum, I have had collections of our iron 
ores made which are full and typical of their occurrence. This will 
make an important and large addition to the materials now stored in 
the State House. A State Museum which may contain representatives 
of the economic wealth of the State is much wanted for their proper 
exhibition and for distribution information to the people. These col¬ 
lections, aided by maps, and particularly by models (or relief maps), 
will be valuable object lessons and illustrate the reports and cata¬ 
logues of the natural history of the State.”* 
* Taken from the Report of the State Geologist for 1890. 
