REPORTS OF THE DIRECTOR AND OF THE CURATORS

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR

FREDERIC A. LUCAS

In spite of the restrictions imposed by crowded halls and store-rooms and the increased cost of everything, the Director is able to report progress in the acquisition of material, in research, publication, installation and attendance, as well as important gains in membership. Some of the progress has been in indirect lines, like a ship beating to windward; there have been shifts and makeshifts; much of the installation is temporary, and many changes will be necessary when more room is available, but much that has been done will be ready for exhibition when the time arrives.

There is no better maxim for the Museum Curator than that found in the words of Theodore Roosevelt, "Do what you can, where you are, with what you have," and for the past five years or so the Museum staff has been working on that principle.

Notwithstanding the shortening of the hours during which the Museum was open to the public and the fact that many of the halls have been closed half Attendance the time, the attendance has been very good, especially during the last half of the year. Part of the attendance during the first part of the year was probably due to the presence in and near New York of soldiers awaiting their discharge and to their relatives and friends who came to meet them.

The number of visitors in the last six months is, the Director feels, largely due to improvements in the exhibition halls, which are better arranged and more fully labeled than ever before, though unfortunately some halls are still in

adequately labeled. In considering the attendance, the number of visitors to the Flower Show and to the Exhibit of Industrial Art has been discounted, but subtracting these, the number during the last four months was as great as at any previous corresponding period.

Among noteworthy visitors were the King and Queen of Belgium, accompanied by the Crown Prince; the members of the Abyssinian Mission, headed by the Dedjazmatch (Duke) Nado; and Viscount Grey.

The Abyssinians were most impressed by the fossil vertebrates, not merely by the size of such creatures as the Dinosaurs, but with their great age, and the abundance of life at so early a period in the history of the earth.

The past few years of war, cold, unrest, strikes and epidemics of infantile paralysis and influenza have told severely on Museum attendance, but the year 1919, it is hoped, can be considered as an approach to normal.

STATISTICS OF NUMBERS REACHED BY the MUSEUM AND ITS EXTENSION EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

Centers

Lectures to Pupils in Local

Numbers reached by Circulating Collections..

Grand Total..

........

32,800 37,400 38,525 19,575 25,575 1,238,581 1,118,322 1,104,456 817,610 955,438 2,191,469 2,003,397 2,044,934 1,528,523 1,849,475

The sales of popular publications have reflected the character of the attendance, being greater than ever, particularly of the Guide, which was exhausted much sooner than expected and "out of print" for four months. Three of the Handbooks were also "sold out." All together there were sold at the attendants' desks 3,005 Guides, 1,886 Handbooks, 3,087 Leaflets and 1,044 Reprints, a total of 9,022 copies.

Sales of Popular Publications

These figures do not include sales made through the Library, which go largely to educational institutions, where the Handbooks or other publications, particularly those of the Departments of Anthropology and Vertebrate Palæontology, are used as text books or works of reference.

Plant

The increase in printing equipment made in 1918 has been thoroughly justified by the results obtained, although, owing to rapid increases in the prices of maThe Printing terial and labor, it is unusually difficult to make a comparison of the work done in the Museum with that done outside. Thanks, however, to Dr. Wissler, who was largely instrumental in the acquisition of the printing plant, and who has followed its operations very carefully, it is possible to say that the output has been entirely satisfactory in quantity and in cost; there is no question as to the excellent quality of the work turned out.

It is also difficult to place an exact estimate on the work of the Printing Office, not merely on account of its varied character, which necessitates frequent changes from one class of work to another, but from the fact that comparatively few copies of any piece of work are called for.

As one result of the restriction of field work, more time has been devoted to research and the preparation of papers, an unusual number of which have been offered for publication. The amount of work on hand at the close of 1919 is in itself sufficient to keep the present plant busy for the coming year, but it is hoped to add further equipment and to also provide folding and stitching machines for the bindery.

Among the decided advantages in having the printing plant in the Museum is that, when necessary, matter may be held in type. This is particularly desirable in the case of the Guide where slight changes can be made from time to time, in the way of cuts or descriptive matter, without involving complete resetting of the publication.

The Bulletin and Anthropological Papers have been printed in the Museum by our own staff, but the Memoirs are let out

to commercial concerns. The labor and other troubles have so interfered with this outside printing that no Memoirs appeared in 1919, but two important manuscripts were sent outside for printing and will be issued shortly.

Popular Publications and Labeling

Popular Publications, so called, printed during the year, include one new Handbook of 224 pages on "Peoples of the Philippines," edition 1,000; a reprint of the Handbook of 266 pages on "Animals of the Past," edition 2,000; the sixth edition of the General Guide, 136 pages, edition 3,000; an edition of 2,000 each of two new Guide Leaflets, one of 32 pages on "The Collection of Minerals," and one of 32 pages on "Indian Beadwork"; a reprint of the Leaflet of 24 pages on "Peruvian Art," edition 2,000; 5,000 copies of a special leaflet of 19 pages as a guide to the Exhibit of Industrial Art; 19,700 booklets of lectures for Members of the Museum, 16 pages; 46,300 circulars for membership and 100 copies of Honor Roll, 16 pages, 200 impressions.

MISCELLANEOUS PRINTING DURING 1919

The general changes in the exhibition halls and the additions to the collections are recorded in the reports of the various departments and only a few very special acquisitions are noted here.

New Exhibits

A most welcome addition to the art collections of the Museum is a fine bust of President Osborn (by Chester A. Beach), presented by Mrs. Henry Fairfield Osborn, for the Osborn Library.