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12. PLEASE PRESENT ANY PLANS WHICH YOU MAY HAVE IN VIEW FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF YOUR DEPARTMENT. ^[[Copy made for Executive Curator Sept. 30-96.]] The collections of mammals made by the Dept. of Agriculture in the last few ^[[years]] being cited in the publications of that Department as belonging to the Nat. Museum, it is taken for granted that they do now & always will form a part of the government collections of the Museum. Such being the case, it seems inadvisable to spend money in procuring North American mammals at this time, except of such species as are not collected by the Dept of Agriculture, or of which specimens are needed for exhibition purposes. On the other hand, all kinds of foreign mammals are greatly to be desired. The tendency of work in America at present is to follow broader lines than hitherto & the foreign species are needed for comparison with our own. We ought to be on the lookout, furthermore, to secure specimens of large foreign species which are threatened with extinction. Some which were obtainable 25 years ago are no longer to be had. Additions to the groups of North American mammals are in view, but there is great discouragement in this direction, because some fine groups already prepared cannot be exhibited for want of room. A Fur-seal group is being provided for at once. [[marginalia: pencil bracket around the final two paragraphs]] [The Curator was in the service of the U. S. Fish Commission from the beginning of the fiscal year till mid-winter. He has served as Chairman of the Committee on Publications & of a Committee on the B. St. storage. The Department suffered a severe loss in the death of Mr. R. S. Matthews, a most valued assistant.]
Transcription Notes:
"B St. storage" was rented space for storage and workshops, as the Smithsonian outgrew its facilities (see 1903 Annual Report, p. 269, https://books.google.com/books?id=_7E6AQAAMAAJ). In 1931, B Street south (in other words, southwest quadrant) was renamed Constitution Avenue, and it now forms one of the two main boundaries of the National Mall, the long green park that runs between the Capitol and the Potomac River and is lined with many of the Smithsonian museums.