CHILDREN'S MUSEUM AS AN EDUCATOR 371 



THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM AS AN EDUCATOE 



By ANNA BILIINGS GALLUP, B.S. 



CURATOR, CHILDREN'S MUSEUM, BROOKLYN INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 



THE Children's Museum is the only museum of its kind in the 

 world. Although it has not reached its tenth birthday, it has 

 won a permanent place in its own community and has awakened in 

 this and foreign countries an interest in new lines of educational ad- 

 vancement suggestive of greater possibilities. 



The origin and early history of this pioneer museum illustrate the 

 power of small beginnings. Its life commenced in the residence of 

 an attractive suburban estate which the city had taken for a public park, 

 the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences having leased the house 

 as temporary store room for its scientific collections. Upon the open- 

 ing of the Central Museum of Arts and Sciences and the consequent 

 removal of the most valuable institute property, the utility of the old 

 residence would have been at an end had not its picturesqueness of 

 situation suggested a branch museum for the benefit of children. 



In December of that year, 1899, therefore, the Brooklyin Institute 

 trustees opened to the juvenile public two small rooms of the Bedford 

 Park building. Although the original exhibits consisted of little more 

 than a few insects, shells and stuffed birds, the eagerness with which 

 children sought them proved the necessity for enlarging the scope of 

 work. 



Some of the aims in establishing this children's branch were: to 

 form an attractive resort for children tending to refine their tastes 

 and elevate their interests; to create an active educational center of 

 daily help in connection with school studies; and to suggest new sub- 

 jects of thought for pursuit in leisure hours. 



The method of procedure involved first, the necessity of collections 

 attractive and stimulating to children and also helpful to the teachers 

 of those children; second, a system of instruction that would lead to 

 profitable results through voluntary endeavor on the part of the child. 



The formation of suitable collections and the work of putting in- 

 struction on a practicable basis have involved the expenditure of time, 

 as well as labor and money. But that progress has been made is shown 

 in the contrast between the original collections and the twelve exhibi- 

 tion rooms of to-day furnished with specimens, models and pictures 

 related to nearly every phase of children's intellectual interests. 



