REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 
9 
as it would be impossible to' duplicate them. The furniture was 
quite costly. The exhibits and furniture are now stored in the 
Fidelity Storage Warehouse in the city of Trenton. 
In my opinion the exhibits should be preserved, and the State 
should provide some place or places where they may be placed as 
a museum or educational exhibit. They should not be sold as a 
whole, and to sell them piecemeal would produce but an insig¬ 
nificant sum, and destroy what can never be replaced.” 
IyAW. 
In accordance with this recommendation of the Governor, the 
Legislature passed the following law : 
Chapter CLXXXIII. 
'An Act to establish and maintain a State Museum. 
Whereas, The Governor of this State has recommended that the exhibits 
of the several departments of the state government at the Columbian 
exposition at Chicago be placed on permanent exhibition; and whereas, 
said exhibits would form a nucleus of an exhibit, which would be of great 
value in showing the educational, agricultural and industrial development 
of the state; therefore, 
1. Be it enacted, by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of 
New Jersey, That the commission now having charge of the restoration of the 
state house shall have power, and it shall be its duty, to cause to be prepared, 
suitable rooms in said state house for a museum for the preservation and 
display of the exhibits of the several state departments at the Chicago 
exposition, and for such other exhibits as may from time to time be placed 
therein by the commission having control of said museum, as provided in the 
second section of this act, and the expenses incurred in the preparation of 
said rooms shall be paid on the warrant of the comptroller out of any 
moneys in the state treasury not otherwise appropriated. 
2. And be it enacted, That the state superintendent of public instruction, the 
state geologist, the president of the state board of agriculture, the president 
of the senate and the speaker of the house of assembly are hereby constituted 
a commission, which commission shall have control of said museum, and 
shall make all necessary rules and regulations for the proper care and 
maintenance thereof, and said commission may appoint a curator, who shall, 
under the direction of said commission, arrange and classify the several 
exhibits, and shall have charge of said museum and exhibits, and shall 
perform such other duties in connection therewith as shall be directed by 
said commission, and he shall be paid such a compensation as said com¬ 
mission shall determine, but not to exceed the sum of fifteen hundred 
