USES OF A RESEARCH MUSEUM 163 



THE METHODS AND USES OF A EESEARCH MUSEUM 



By JOSEPH GRINNELL 



DIRECTOR OF THE MUSEUM OF VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 



THE average public museum contains natural history specimens of 

 two categories — those which are displayed within glass cases con- 

 stantly open to the light, so as to be continually in the view of visitors ; 

 and of those which are stored away in various appropriate containers, 

 ordinarily protected from the light, and which are not open for the 

 inspection of the general public, though they may be freely handled 

 and examined by the special student in the field to which they pertain. 

 The former category of specimens constitutes what is usually referred 

 to as the museum proper, or exhibition museum ; while the latter forms 

 what may be termed the research museum. 



The functions of an exhibition museum have been discussed at 

 length, and its claim to recognition as a valuable factor in public edu- 

 cation as well as amusement has been too well established to require 

 further proof. It should be remembered, however, that much of the 

 material on display may at the same time be of direct value in research ; 

 for it consists in part of such objects as skeletons which are not af- 

 fected injuriously by light and which may be encased with a view to 

 easy access by the osteologist who wishes to examine them minutely. 



It is in the research department of the museum that I believe lies a 

 great value, even though the sight-seeing visitor may know nothing of 

 its existence. The maintenance of a research department on a large 

 scale is certainly justifiable, as I purpose to show, by the importance of 

 the results to be obtained through it from the standpoint of pure 

 science. In an institution, like the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 

 which is an integral part of a large university, it may even be war- 

 rantable to emphasize the importance of research over exhibition. For 

 the presence of the research museum serves as a stimulus to the univer- 

 sity student and as a source of material and information usable in the 

 work of other departments in the university. 



In discussing at length the functions of a research museum, in 

 order to have something concrete to use in illustration, I will refer 

 constantly to the institution with which I am connected. Here, al- 

 though it has been little more than two years since its inauguration, 

 enough of methods and policies have been formulated to furnish data 

 for the basis of this paper. 



The functions of our research department, in other words the 



