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BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY-ESTIMATES.

December 2, 1895-House.

Estimates for 1897.

For continuing ethnological researches among the American Indians, under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution, including salaries or compensation of all necessary employees, of which sum not exceeding $1,000 may be used for rent of building, $50,000.

December 7, 1896-House.

Estimates for 1898.

For continuing ethnological researches among the American Indians, under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution, including salaries or compensation of all necessary employees, of which sum not exceeding $1,000 may be used for rent of building, $50,000.

NOTE. Attention is called to the title of the appropriation which is changed from North American Ethnology to American Ethnology to make the title conform to the law.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY-APPROPRIATIONS.

June 8, 1896.

Deficiency act for 1896, etc.

North American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, $4.77.

[To cover claims reported in House Document 322, Fifty-fourth Congress, first session.]

(Stat., XXIX, 307.)

June 11, 1896.

Sundry civil act for 1897.

For continuing ethnological researches among the American Indians, under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution, including salaries or compensation of all necessary employees, $45,000, of which sum not exceeding $1,000 may be used for rent of building.

(Stat., XXIX, 425.)

ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY ESTIMATES.

December 2, 1895-House.

Estimates for 1897.

For the maintenance of Astrophysical Observatory, under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution, including salaries of assistants, apparatus, and miscellaneous expenses, $10,000.

December 7, 1896-House.

Estimates for 1898.

For the maintenance of Astrophysical Observatory, under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution, including salaries of assistants, apparatus, and miscellaneous expenses, $10,000.

NOTE.-An Astrophysical Observatory has been established under the Smithsonian Institution, where investigations of economic as well as scientific value are now carried on. They are among the newest and most important developments of astrophysics; they are not provided for by any other observatory in this country, and are of such interest that every considerable civilized government, notably those of France and Germany, has organized such establishments in addition to, and independent of, the observatories devoted to older processes of astronomy.

June 11, 1896.

ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY-APPROPRIATIONS.

Sundry civil act for 1897.

For maintenance of Astrophysical Observatory, under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution, including salaries of assistants, apparatus, and miscellaneous expenses, $10,000.

(Stat., XXIX, 425.)

SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT IN LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

December 3, 1895-Senate.

The Special Report of the Librarian of Congress (Doc. No. 7), included this item:

The great scientific library of the Smithsonian Institution, deposited in the Congressional Library by the act of 1866, can be accommodated in the stack room already shelved in the eastern part of the Library building. This collection is rich in the serial publications of scientific and literary societies in all parts of the world, many of which are now out of print and unattainable.

OWEN STATUE.

December 4, 1895-Senate.

Mr. D. W. VOORHEES introduced bill (S. 419). Same as S. 2600, introduced by Mr. VOORHEES January 17, 1895.1

Referred to Committee on the Library.

December 16, 1895-House.

Mr. JAMES A. HEMENWAY introduced bill (H. 1711). Same as S. 419.

Referred to Committee on the Library.

UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA.

December 6, 1895-House.

Mr. EUGENE J. HAINER introduced bill (H. 304), to establish a national university under the name of the "University of America,"

1 See p. 1688.

the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution to be ex officio a member of a board of twenty regents.

Referred to Committee on Education.

December 19, 1895-Senate.

Mr. JOHN M. THURSTON introduced bill (S. 1086), for a national university.

Referred to Committee on Education and Labor.

December 20, 1895-Senate.

Mr. JAMES H. KYLE introduced bill (S. 1132) for a national univer

sity.

Referred to Committee on University of United States.

January 28, 1896-Senate.

S. 1086 referred to Committee on University of United States.

NATIONAL MUSEUM-NEW BUILDING.

December 10, 1895-Senate.

Mr. J. S. MORRILL introduced bill (S. 698):

That for an additional fireproof building for the use of the National Museum, 300 feet square, with two stories and a basement, to be erected under the direction of the Architect of the Capitol, with the approval of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, in harmony with the present National Museum building, on the southwestern portion of the grounds of the Smithsonian Institution, there shall be appropriated, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $250,000; said building to be placed west of the Smithsonian Institution, leaving a roadway between it and the latter of not less than 50 feet, with its north front on a line with the south face of the Agricultural Department and of the Smithsonian Institution, and constructed, as far as practicable, after proper advertisement, by contract or contracts approved by the Secretary of the Treasury and awarded to the lowest responsible bidder; and all expenditures for the purpose herein mentioned shall be audited by the proper officers of the Treasury Department.

Referred to Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds.

February 27, 1896-Senate.

Mr. J. S. MORRILL reported an amendment to bill (S. 698):

That for an additional fireproof building for the use of the National Museum, 300 feet square, with two stories and a basement, to be erected under the direction of Bernard R. Green, with the approval of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, in harmony with the present National Museum building, on the southwestern portion of the grounds of the Smithsonian Institution, there shall be appropriated, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $250,000; said building to be placed west of the Smithsonian Institution, leaving a roadway between it and the latter of not less than 50 feet, with its north front on a line with the south face of the Agricultural Department and of the Smithsonian Institution, and constructed as far as practicable, after proper advertisement, by contract or contracts, approved by the Secretary of the Treasury and awarded to the lowest responsible bidder; and all expenditures for the purpose herein mentioned shall be audited by the proper officers of the Treasury Department.

Ordered to lie on the table.

March 23, 1896-Senate.

Mr. J. S. MORRILL, from Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, submitted report (S. 540) on S. 698:

The following extract is taken from the last annual report of Mr. S. P. Langley, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution:

In my last annual statement I pointed out three conditions which are operating to seriously retard the growth of the National Museum: First, the lack of space for the installation of objects which should be placed on exhibition; second, the unsymmetrical growth of the collections; and third, the fact that the storage of collections in the wooden sheds south of the Smithsonian building, as well as in the basement of the building itself, is most undesirable and dangerous. The sum of $900, allowed for 1896, will be necessarily expended in the rental of shop and storage room in place of the "Armory building." The actually dangerous wooden sheds must therefore remain occupied until a sum of money is provided which will enable me to discontinue their use altogether by renting other quarters, removed entirely from proximity to the Smithsonian building.

The problem of even providing shelter of any kind for the vast amount of material daily received from persons interested in the growth and work of the Museum still remains unsolved. The Institution is placed in an embarrassing position. It has been designated by law as the only depository of collections offered to, or made under the auspices of, the Government, and can not, under the law, refuse to receive them. The fact remains, however, that when accepted there is no suitable place in which to store them, and no space in the Museum building to exhibit such of the objects as should properly be shown to the public. As I have already pointed out, there is probably no museum in the world in which so small a proportion of the objects worthy of exhibition is visible to the public, or in which the objects exhibited are crowded together so closely. It is now more true than ever that if another museum building as large as the present one were provided it could be at once filled with specimens already on hand.

Dr. G. Brown Goode, assistant secretary in charge, has furnished, at the request of the committee, the following details and statistical information:

The Smithsonian Institution is the custodian of the National Museum, which is the only lawful place of deposit of "all objects of art and of foreign and curious research, and all objects of natural history, plants, and geological and mineralogical specimens belonging to the United States." The nucleus of the collections consists of the specimens brought home by the Wilkes and other exploring expeditions, but for many years the Museum was supported entirely at the expense of the Smithson fund, and a considerable portion of the collections is the property of the Institution.

Professor Huxley defines a museum as "a consultative library of objects." The National Museum is such a consultative library, and it is a great deal more. It is an agency for the instruction of the people of the whole country, and it keeps in mind the needs of persons whose lives are not occupied in the study of science, as well as those of the professional investigator and teacher.

Its benefits are extended without cost or reserve to hundreds of

thousands of visitors from all parts of the United States, who pass through its doors each year, as is shown in the following table:

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It is also accessory to public education through the distribution of the duplicate specimens in the Museum, which are made up into sets, accurately named, and given to public institutions in all parts of the country.

The history of the Museum is divided into three periods: First, that from the foundation of the Smithsonian Institution to 1857, during which time specimens were collected purely and solely to serve as materials for research, no special effort having been made to publicly exhibit them or to utilize them except as a foundation for scientific description and theory. Second, the period from 1857, when the Institution assumed the custody of the "National Cabinet of Curiosities," to 1876. During this period the Museum became a place of deposit for scientific material which had already been studied, this material, so far as practicable, being exhibited to the public, and thus made to serve an educational purpose. Third, the present period, beginning in the year 1876, during which the Museum has entered upon a career of active work in gathering collections and exhibiting them on account of their educational value.

During the first period the main object of the Museum was scientific research; in the second the establishment became a museum of record as well as of research; while in the third period there is growing up also the idea of public education.

The three ideas, record, research, and education, cooperative and mutually helpful as they are, are essential to the development of H. Doc. 732-108

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