III. ADMINISTRATION, OPERATION AND BUILDING

GEORGE H. SHERWOOD, Acting Director

An essential part of the Museum's organization for the advancement of education is its departments for general administration. These departments may be likened to the engines of a great steamship. For the most part their labors are not performed before the public eye, but unless their component parts are maintained in good working condition, well oiled, thoroughly co-ordinated and in smooth running order, the other units cannot render efficient service. The general administration departments, constituting the service units of our organization, are rendering continuous service, not only to the scientific departments, but directly or indirectly to the public in all its contacts with the institution. Our service departments include:

The Director's office, which is responsible for the carrying out of the policies determined by the President and the Board of Trustees and for the general administration of the Museum.

The Bursar's office, in charge of Mr. F. H. Smyth, at the present time not only functioning in a purely financial capacity as the Treasurer's department of the Museum, but rendering valuable assistance in solving many of the problems of general administration.

The Registrar's office is directed by Mr. George N. Pindar, who is the keeper of the accession records, has general charge of incoming and outgoing shipments, has developed our publicity program, and has rendered valuable service both to the Trustees and to the employees in the careful and conscientious attention which he has given to the Pension Fund and to the welfare of the employees.

The office of the Superintendent of the Building, in charge of Mr. J. B. Foulke, has the stupendous task of keeping clean a great building, with miles of floor space and acres of plate glass, of adequately guarding the exhibition halls and providing for the convenience and comfort of the visiting public.

The Department of Construction and Repairs, in charge of Mr. H. F. Beers, Chief of Construction, has an enormous burden in keeping the buildings in repair and in constructing the cases and other equipment essential to the preservation of the collections and the daily requirements of the staff members.

And finally, the Department of Heating and Lighting, at the head of which is Mr. H. J. Langham, Chief Engineer, which not only provides the heat and light for the entire building, but does all of the repair work in the heating and lighting system of the building and provides the electrical and other mechanical installations that are required for the proper illumination of our exhibition halls and special exhibits.

It is through the close coöperation of these six departments that it is possible to operate this great institution with a relatively small force and with our present efficiency. The Acting Director wishes to express his appreciation of the cordial support which he has had from all members of these departments and of the splendid team work that has been such an important factor in producing the results of the year.

The Acting Director is also charged with the general responsibility of the scientific administration, as distinguished from the purely building administration. In this capacity, he has had the most cordial support of Honorary Director Lucas, of Assistant Director Murphy and of Assistant Director Clark.

At the beginning of the year, Doctor Frederic A. Lucas was relieved of the heavy burden of general administration and was appointed to the post of Honorary Director, in order that he might have an opportunity to devote all his energies to the general supervision and completion of some of the most important exhibition halls in the Museum, namely, the Hall of Primates, the Synoptic Hall of Mammals, and the new Hall of Ocean Life, for which his long experience in Museum work and his wide acquaintance with the particular subjects eminently qualify him. In addition to this, Doctor Lucas has taken immediate charge of the Jesup Collection of North American Woods and has devoted a great deal of attention to the labeling in the halls and to the development of our popular publications. At the same time he has greatly assisted the Acting Director with advice in many problems of general administration. The report on these branches of the Museum's work during the past year is contained in the following extract of the report prepared by the Honorary Director:

"The Modern Museum is not a mere storehouse of material for the benefit of a few; it is a great educational institution for the public-the people's university. This purpose was recognized

by the Founders of The American Museum of Natural History at a time when museums were considered as mainly for the benefit of men of science, and, were the motto of the museum slightly expanded, it might well read 'for the education of the people and the furtherance of science.' While museum reports are necessarily brief and largely records of additions to the collections, the work of expeditions and the results of the study of material thus obtained, yet these records note the increase in the educational equipment of the institution.

"The first item, Attendance, is a record of the numbers who have availed themselves of the educational opportunities offered by the museum, and to a great extent a test of whether or not these opportunities have been presented in such manner as to render them attractive to the public. The comparative attendance during the past few years is as follows:

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

"The 'popular publications,' in distinction from the scientific, are intended for the visitor; that they are looked upon as educational is shown by the demand for them for use as Publications text-books. There were sold during the past nine months 5,251 copies of the General Guide, and 2,747 copies of An Hour in the Museum; 1,487 Handbooks were sold to visitors and 1,122 sold through the Library, while visitors purchased 7,108 Guide Leaflets and 715 were sold by the Library; the sales of reprints were 1,590 copies, 87 of which were sold through the Library. The aggregate of these sales, exclusive of An Hour in the Museum, which is little more than an index to the contents of

the halls, was 17,273 copies, as against a total of 14,400 for 1923. The following were added to the series of popular publications during the year: Handbook No. 10, 'The Indians of the Northwest Coast,' Guide Leaflets Nos. 59 and 60, 'The Preparation of Rough Skeletons' and 'The Story of the Yosemite Valley'; and reprint, 'Seasonal Records of Geologic Time.' The demand for this is such that it will later be issued as a leaflet.

"By far the most popular leaflet is 'The Hall of the Age of Man,' which, owing to the demand for it, went out of print in October after a sale of over 1,500 copies. It is interesting to note that next to this the leaflet most in favor is 'The Geology of New York City and Vicinity,' 700 copies of which were sold in eight months, again exhausting the edition.

"Exhibits, with their accompanying labels, are for the purpose of placing information before the public, and while Dr. Goode is quoted as having defined a museum as a collection of Exhibits labels illustrated by specimens, yet if the exhibits do not attract the visitor or arouse his interest, the labels will not be read; hence the necessity of having exhibits that appeal to the public.

"The principal progress in the exhibits in the immediate charge of the Honorary Director has been in the Trees of North America which had been practically at a standstill since the loss Exhibition of Miss Dickerson. Here good progress has been made in the replacement of the old labels by those of the standard type: a number of general descriptive labels have been added, and a relief map showing the forest areas of North America placed near the entrance. The transparencies portraying unusually fine examples of some native trees have been moved to alcoves where they would be near the specimens to which they relate and new labels supplied.

"The most noticeable additions are the sprays of foliage prepared by Mr. Narahara, eight of which have been put on exhibition during the year, while improvements have been made in the display of those already on exhibition. Preference has been given to samples of brilliant autumn foliage, as these do much to beautify the hall; the characteristic shape of the leaf is retained and the element of color added.