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^[[M&P]]

Annual Report
Division of Mineralogy and Petrology
Management report 1958-1959

It is becoming increasingly obvious that the routine business of the Division of Mineralogy and Petrology can no longer be efficiently conducted without the assistance of a full time typist. Occasional part time help from a typist during the past year helped reduce the back log, but as soon as help was withdrawn it quickly built-up.

The absolutely essential routine work of the office has reached a constant heavy level that is much greater than one person should be expected to handle. There is   every reason to believe that this load will not only remain at this level, but that it will more than likely continue to increase.

There are a number of factors that have contributed to the greatly increased work load. Several of these are listed below:
1. Greater public interest in gems and minerals as a result of rapid growth of the earth sciences hobbies in the past ten years.
2. Greater public interest in gems and minerals occasioned by our new exhibits and the resulting publicity. 
3. Greatly increased interest on the part of both the scientific and general public in meteorites.
4. A great increase in requests for information from mineralogists, geologists, physicists, and chemists in government, industrial, and university laboratories.