CHILDREN'S MUSEUM AS AN EDUCATOR 379 



passed a bill authorizing the city to erect a new Children's Museum 

 Building at a cost not to exceed $175,000. With the improved equip- 

 ment thus provided the Children's Museum would not only serve a 

 larger number of children, but would also serve them more efficiently 

 in proportion to expenditure. 



Through publications from the German press we learn that certain 

 educators in Berlin are advocating a children's museum for that city. 

 Meanwhile in our own country museums are beginning to feel the 

 importance of giving more attention to the education of children. In 

 large cities the field for smaller museums is always increasing, and one 

 can but hope that the time may soon come when a system of these insti- 

 tutions, each studying and adapting itself to the needs of its particular 



Feeding the "Tree Toads." A daily afternoon attraction. 



locality, will be working as branches of a large central museum, with 

 its skilled artists, modelers, taxidermists and preparateurs. 



As a small museum in a large city serves a moving population, its 

 service to the individual is necessarily limited by a constant change 

 of clientele. Smaller towns, on the other hand, offer conditions for an 

 almost ideal development. The Fairbanks Museum, in the little town 

 of St. Johnsbury, Vermont, is an excellent example of museum leader- 

 ship in a small center. 



Since the Children's Museum has demonstrated its worth to one 

 community there is reason to expect that it will make its way into 

 others and the variety of problems to be solved in adapting its work 

 to new conditions offers one of the most attractive fields of modern 

 education. 



