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Arkansas Museum also curates Major Earle’s ceremonial sword. By 1912, the museum’s zoological collections had grown to include 200 birds and mammals, 200 reptiles and amphibians, 1,500 fishes, 1,000 insects and other invertebrates, and several skeletons.41 The growth of the zoological collections may account for Dellinger’s statement decades later that the museum was started through the Department of Zoology (i.e., Professor Harvey), and that many fine specimens were collected. Dellinger also said that during the time that Geology “had control” of the museum (probably referring to the time of Professor Purdue onward), the zoological specimens were in such a bad state of preservation that they had to be discarded.42 Noah Fields Drake, professor of geology, succeeded Purdue as curator of the museum,43 holding both titles until he left the University of Arkansas in 1920 after eight years of service.44 Drake collected some archaeological specimens and a human skull from Denny Cave, northeast of Huntsville, in 1915.45 Following the departure of Professor Drake, another geologist, George Haven Cady, was appointed curator, but he seems to have served in that capacity for only one year.46 For several years, the museum lacked a titled curator until Dellinger’s appointment in 1925, as mentioned earlier. In the interim, responsibility for the museum probably rested with the geology department, and it was during this period that the zoological specimens suffered such neglect that they had to be discarded .47 Nonetheless, the museum clearly was not forgotten, as the fiftieth anniversary issue of the University of Arkansas yearbook included several photographs of the museum exhibits, including a “mineralogy exhibit,” a mastodon skull with tusks, a “baby hippo” (probably in a storage room), and a glyptodon.48 Although Sam Dellinger came to the University of Arkansas in 1921, he was not appointed curator of the museum until 1925, following completion of his PhD coursework and research at Columbia University and Woods Hole, Massachusetts.49 In the same issue that introduced Dellinger to university alumni as the new curator of the museum, the Arkansas Alumnus 3(7) also published an overview of the museum: No mention had been made of any special appropriations for the museum by the state legislature previous to 1895, when $500.00 was appropriated. In 1897 this amount was increased to $1000.00, but dropped in 1901, according to data in the History of Arkansas [i.e., History of the University of Arkansas, 1910] by Thomas and HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS MUSEUM ■ ■ ■ 45 Figure 61.“Corner of the museum” in 1902. Figure 62. Photographs of the museum in 1922. Reynolds. The appropriations have been made since then as follows: 1903, $1000.00; 1905, $700.00; 1907, $500.00; 1909, $500.00. For years through the loyalty of professors in charge of the department of geology and biology, through gifts from University of Arkansas alumni, purchase and exchange the museum contains some valuable collections. In one of the display cases is a set of the original specifications for the main building, University Hall, which were drawn up by W. Z. Mayes, builder and contractor. Mrs. Ida Mayes Carlisle, daughter of the contractor, presented this to the University. The mineral collections on display are very fine. The collection of rocks, which were given by H. D. Miser, an alumnus, now state geologist of Tennessee, is good, but a larger one is needed. An unusual and valuable collection of swords and guns was lent to the University recently by Mr. B. H. Stone. One of the largest collections of Indian relics in the museum is the one given by Lt. C. H. Metcalf of the U. S. Marines, a graduate of the University. The material of this collection came from an old Indian mound just south of the city of Vera Cruz, Mexico. The collection consists of several fine images of Toltec or Aztec workmanship. Another good collection was given to the University by Miss Carrie Pace. The collection includes pieces of pottery, arrow heads and other stone tools, and bones. This material was found in a mound in St. Francis county.50 Dellinger’s appointment as curator marked the beginning of a major research program at the museum, and increased interest in the museum by the university community and the general public. During the 1926–27 academic year, only a year after Dellinger became curator , there were 2,841 visitors to the museum, a number “larger by far” than in any year...

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