APPENDIX 1.

REPORT ON THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM.

SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report on the operations of the United States National Museum for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1916:

INTRODUCTORY.

Seventy years ago Congress first definitely recognized the national collections and directed their segregation and preservation under the custody and supervision of the Smithsonian Institution in the building to be erected for that establishment. By 1850 arrangements had been sufficiently perfected to justify the appointment of an assistant in charge of museum matters and to begin the acquisition of natural-history specimens, but it was not until 1858 that the extensive collections which had previously accumulated at the Patent Office could be accepted. With an influx of material relatively as phenomenal as in more recent years, the Museum rapidly spread beyond the boundaries originally assigned to it and by 1875 was practically in possession of all parts of the Smithsonian building not required for the offices of the parent institution. But even so, there was a condition of great congestion from which relief was only obtained in 1881, the year of the completion of the second building. Though specially designed for displaying the many important donations in numerous branches of the industrial arts from the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, the latter had also to serve for the overflow in natural history, a combination which fully taxed its capacity in less than three years. Then followed nearly three decades during which about as much material was assembled in outside storage as found lodgement within the two structures.

The problem as regards the departments of natural history was solved when the new large granite building was made ready for occupancy in 1911, except that it lacked accommodations for the division of plants, or National Herbarium. As the depository for the Department of Agriculture and other establishments conducting extensive botanical explorations, this branch of the Museum has about outgrown its provisional quarters in the Smithsonian building, and its future requirements should not long go unheeded.

The most serious phase of the situation now confronting the Museum, however, results from the wholly inadequate facilities for systematically developing the collections illustrative of the industrial arts. Comprehended under the fundamental act, partly organized in 1880, greatly enriched from the Philadelphia exhibition of 1876, and with a steady growth through all subsequent years, this important department, whose principal aim is popular education on technical lines by means of exhibits visualizing conditions and processes as well as products, is filling to such an extent every foot of available space that the halls present rather the appearance of gross storage than of orderly and classified arrangement. Public sentiment, expressed through many channels, demands better progress than heretofore in carrying out the purposes of this department, but the difficulties in the way are by no means confined to limitations of space, since the more immediate embarrassments arise from an insufficiency of funds for employing the necessary skilled assistants required for working up and preparing the exhibits, which includes the construction of many models.

The department of the fine arts is even more poorly provided for than any of the other Museum branches, as it is occupying borrowed space which is already so crowded as seemingly to forbid further contributions, and while this condition lasts there can be little hope for advancement. There is, however, one bright feature to mention in this connection-the decision to immediately begin the erection of the building for the Charles L. Freer collections of American and oriental art, the plans showing a beautiful granite structure, the completion of which will bring to the Institution much the largest donation it has ever had, one of the most notable gifts of its character in the world's history. Put to no expense for either building or collections, it is hoped that the example set by Mr. Freer will lead to more liberal consideration on the part of the Government of the needs of the National Gallery of Art, for which no appropriations of any kind have ever yet been made.

During the past year many valuable additions were made to the collections generally, new and instructive features were incorporated in the exhibition halls, and a wider public interest was stimulated through an exceptional number of meetings and of special expositions of scientific and art objects held at frequent intervals in the convenient quarters provided for such purposes.

COLLECTIONS.

The total number of specimens acquired during the year was approximately 243,733. Received in 1,525 separate accessions, they were classified and assigned as follows: Department of anthropology, 29.493; zoology, 120,303; botany, 40,631; geology and mineralogy,

1,700; paleontology, 48,403; textiles, woods, and other animal and vegetable products, 2,304; mineral technology, 280; and the National Gallery of Art, 619. As loans for exhibition, 1,960 articles were also obtained, mainly for the Gallery of Art and the divisions of history and ethnology. Material for examination and report, consisting chiefly of rocks, ores, fossils, and recent animals and plants, was received to the extent of 1,036 lots.

Anthropology. One of the most desirable ethnological additions was a series of costumes, weapons, and utensils excellent illustrations of the arts and industries of recently discovered tribes in the interior of British Guiana, collected by Mr. John Ogilvie. The aborigines of Celebes and Borneo were represented by many important objects assembled by Mr. H. C. Raven and presented by Dr. W. L. Abbott; and those of the Philippine Islands by extensive and varied contributions, including weapons, musical instruments, baskets, costumes, etc., received from Mrs. Caroline E. Bates, Mr. E. H. Hammond, and the following officers of the United States Army, namely, Maj. Edgar Russel, Maj. W. T. Johnston, and Capt. J. R. Harris. Baskets, ornaments, and other articles of various Indian tribes of North America, were also given by Mrs. Bates; a number of rare and valuable objects from the Osage Indians were deposited by the Bureau of American Ethnology; interesting examples of art and ethnologica from various parts of the world were presented by Miss Louise Salter Codwise; and costumes and implements from the Blackfeet Indians and the Greenland Eskimo were likewise obtained.

An extensive collection of archeological material from mounds and ruin sites in Utah, resulting from explorations by Mr. Neil M. Judd for the Bureau of Ethnology, is of particular value in aiding to determine the distribution of Pueblo culture toward the north. Other accessions from America consisted mainly of artifacts, including many rare specimens, from several of the States, and of woven fabrics and pottery from Peru. A gift of Old World antiquities from Miss Codwise was composed principally of Egyptian scarabs, necklaces, and figurines, and Palestinian amulets, while a collection of prehistoric stone implements from Great Britain contained some choice specimens.

The division of physical anthropology received many skeletons and skulls, in very complete condition, from Mr. Clarence B. Moore, who obtained them at "The Indian Knoll," on the Green River, Ky.; and a similar collection from Mr. George G. Heye, secured during an exploration of old burial sites in Georgia and Tennessee. Especially noteworthy was an excellent series of skulls and numerous other bones belonging to the period before the advent of the whites, procured in old burial caves in Hawaii by Mr. August Busck.

The more notable accessions in mechanical technology bore upon the subjects of the telephone and firearms. The American Telephone & Telegraph Co. contributed a set of instruments and of loading coils, with examples of line wire and glass insulators, used at the opening of the first telephone line between New York and San Francisco on January 25, 1915, and also a duplicate of the first instrument through which speech was transmitted electrically in Boston in 1875; while Dr. Alexander Graham Bell deposited his diplomas, certificates of award, and announcements of election to scientific societies, an interesting series of documents indicative of the many honors which have been conferred upon him. A gift from Mrs. Bates of much historical value included old military guns of European and American manufacture, pistols and revolvers, a gun made in the Philippine Islands, two very fine bronze swivel cannon, and several Toledo blades and other swords.

Mr. Hugo Worch added three old American pianos to his munificent donation of the previous year, and made a provisional deposit of four other instruments, three American and one of London make. The permanent acquisitions in ceramics consisted mainly of examples from some of the prominent potteries of the United States, but among the loans were specimens of porcelains from abroad and also of glassware, bronze, and brass, which are now exhibited in the ceramic gallery.

Among the accessions in graphic arts were experimental apparatus and pictures illustrating progress and the several steps in the electrical transmission of photographs from one place to another, as also the development of the engraving machine called the akrograph; a Wells printing press; examples of the art of overlay in printing; samples of poster stamps and lithographs; and a number of fourteenth and fifteenth century manuscripts. The additions in photography included daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes; a sepia print of a painting on carved wood by Rosselimo; and a series of prints of astronomical subjects from the Yerkes Observatory.

American history.—The historical collections were increased to an exceptional extent by both gifts and deposits. Most prominent was a loan by Mr. Walter G. Peter, a descendant of Martha Washington, of many objects of artistic and domestic interest once the property of General and Mrs. Washington at Mount Vernon, which richly supplement the Lewis collection long in the possession of the Museum. Mention can here be made of only a few of the articles, among which were a china portrait plaque of Washington designed by Richard Champion; a water-color portrait of him by William Thornton; two gold lockets containing locks of his hair; a gold watch of Mrs. Washington, the cover engraved with the Washington coat of arms; a child's French dressing table of exquisite workman

ship presented by Lafayette to the granddaughter of Mrs. Washington, Martha Custis, who became Mrs. Thomas Peter; letters written to Mrs. Washington on the death of her husband; documents relating to the settlement of her estate; and a number of fine examples of eighteenth century china and glassware.

It is pleasing to note that the valuable loan collection of memorials of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, United States Army, with some additions, was given into the permanent keeping of the Museum during the year by his son, Hon. P. Tecumseh Sherman. From the widow and children of Maj. Gen. Henry W. Lawton, United States Volunteers, there was acquired as a gift an extensive series of objects, including a medal of honor from Congress, forming a significant reminder of the distinguished career of this officer in the Civil War, several Indian wars, and the Philippines. Important relics of Capt. Edward Trenchard, United States Navy (1784-1824), and of his son, Rear Admiral Stephen Decatur Trenchard, United States Navy, including two presents awarded to the former by acts of Congress, were received on deposit. There were also many other gifts and loans of notable personal and period relics, and the national societies of the Colonial Dames of America and the Daughters of the American Revolution made interesting additions to their already extensive loan collections.

By the death of Mr. David W. Cromwell, of New York, on September 11, 1915, the splendid collection of nearly 20,000 domestic and foreign postage stamps, which he placed on permanent deposit in 1908, became the absolute property of the Museum. Among other additions in philately, including stamps, stamped envelopes, and post cards, were 1,565 new foreign and 269 new domestic issues, received from the Post Office Department.

The collection of historical costumes was enriched to the extent of 562 articles, nearly all of which were loans. To the series of costumed figures representing hostesses of the White House four were added, namely, Mrs. James Monroe, Mrs. John Quincy Adams, Mrs. Abraham Lincoln, and Mrs. James R. McKee.

Biology. In the accessions of vertebrate animals the Asiatic region was especially well represented, and many genera and species new to the collection were obtained. The name of Dr. W. L. Abbott remains conspicuous in this connection through three contributions. The first, composed of material gathered under his direction and at his expense in Celebes and Borneo by Mr. H. C. Raven, consisted of 465 mammals, 869 birds, and a number of reptiles and batrachians. The second, presented jointly with Mr. C. B. Kloss, contained 197 mammals and 133 birds. besides reptiles and batrachians from Siam; while the third was a series of 183 mammals from Kashmir, British India. The Celebes and Siam specimens are especially important,