USNM CURATORS ANNUAL REPORTS -- Department of Living Animals: Annual and Monthly Reports, 1887-88

"From the date of the plan of organization of the National Museum it has been the intention of its founders that it should eventually include a Department of Vivaria." So begins the first report of the Smithsonian's Department of Living Animals, which is now the National Zoo! Get the story behind the formation of the National Zoo with this set of annual and monthly curator's reports, 1887-88. These reports were written by the Zoo's first director, William Temple Hornaday, founder of the American conservation movement.