55^  American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  \K™-  j0U,r-  PJ*™- 
»/»»  (   November,  1908. 
If  the  work  of  collection  has  not  kept  pace  with  previous  years, 
something  of  greater  immediate  importance  has  been  accomplished. 
Owing  to  the  appropriation  of  $25.00  made  by  the  Council  at  the 
request  of  this  Section,  your  Reporter  has  been  enabled  to  secure 
clerical  assistance  in  the  mounting  of  documents  and  their  classi- 
fication. Miss  Nellie  Wakeman  has  devoted  a  good  share  of  her 
vacation  to  the  mounting  of  some  1500  to  2000  documents  and 
has  arranged  them  in  such  a  manner  that  they  can  be  permanently 
classified  and  made  available  to  students  of  the  history  of  our 
calling.  While  in  past  years  your  Reporter  has  gladly  spent  many 
an  evening  doing  work  of  this  nature,  the  accumulations  since  1902 
had  grown  to  such  an  extent  that  each  additional  contribution  of 
miscellaneous  documents  threatened  discouragement  instead  of  prov- 
ing a  new  source  of  enthusiasm. 
I  would  suggest,  therefore,  that  this  Section  ask  for  another 
allotment  of  $25.00  for  clerical  work,  also  for  a  like  sum  for 
material.  Paper  for  mounting  and  covers  for  mounted  and  classi- 
fied documents  are  as  essential  as  clerical  assistance.  If  the  Asso- 
ciation desires  to  ask  for  space  in  the  National  Museum  two  years 
hence  much  work  will  have  to  be  done  in  order  that  such  a  request 
may  be  backed  up  by  something  more  than  an  expression  of  a 
desire  to  utilize  the  space  we  intend  to  ask  for.  If  we  can  make 
a  good  showing  of  work  already  done  our  request  will  unquestion- 
ably be  much  more  favorably  received  than  otherwise. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  are  many  things  in  the  way  of  collec- 
tion that  it  would  be  unwise  to  attempt  at  the  present  time.  What 
we  need  most  of  all  at  the  present  time  is  the  promise  of  collections 
now  in  the  hands  of  members  of  this  Association.  A  few  of  such 
promises  have  already  been  received,  but  we  need  many  more. 
Your  historian  cannot  refrain,  in  closing  his  brief  report,  from 
alluding  to  the  pharmaceutical  collections  he  has  seen  while  abroad 
last  fall  and  winter.  While  fully  appreciating  the  pharmaceutical 
collections  of  individuals,  of  educational  institutions  and  cities,  two 
collections  stand  out  prominently  in  his  memory,  viz.,  those  of 
Niirnberg  and  Zurich.  These  are  the  model  exhibits  of  the  national 
museums  of  Germany  and  Switzerland  respectively,  such  as  we 
should  have  at  Washington.  When  the  time  for  asking  for  space 
at  Washington  has  arrived,  it  will  afford  me  great  pleasure  to  give 
to  this  Section  a  fair  idea  of  what  has  been  done  along  this  line 
by  other  countries  and  to  indicate  what  we  as  a  national  association 
