While Dublin awaited the building of a National Gallery, the Natural History Museum hosted an exhibition of Decorative Art from Easter Monday 1858 which was opened by Earl of Eglinton. The exhibition was viewed by 55,000 over 11 weeks. Due to Carte's efforts in soliciting donations, the collections expanded considerably in the 1860s, but the Society only spent £373 on purchasing specimens. In the early 1860s much of the collection was not on display due to a lack of funds to prepare them for exhibition, and owing to the fact the ground floor of the new museum building was not completed, lacking heating and a permanent floor surface. Samuel Haughton arranged part of the mineralogical collection for display.