ginning of economic and industrial exhibits. Much of the 

 summer will, however, be occupied with cataloging which 

 has been crowded out of the busy winter months and with 

 construction which must be carried on by the staff for want 

 of adequate funds. At best the preparation and installation 

 of exhibits must proceed slowly and it therefore seems desi- 

 rable to fulfill the promise made in the March article and 

 describe the work of preparing and installing exhibits in 

 order that the friends of the Museum may appreciate the 

 labor involved. 



It has been well said that to write a good label one should 

 be able to write a book about the subject in question. The 

 first step, then, in preparing exhibits is to become thoroughly 

 familiar with all aspects of the subject. This requires many 

 books and is one of the reasons for the care which a museum 

 expends upon its library. Books alone are not enough, 

 however, for without extensive analytical catalogs the quest 

 for information is like the proverbial search for the needle 

 in the haystack, and so the constant need for the services of a 

 librarian is explained. Having become thoroughly informed 

 upon the subject in hand, it is necessary to examine the stor- 

 age collections (which must obviously be systematically ar- 

 ranged and conveniently accessible) and to determine how 

 many and what specimens can be shown in the exhibit to 

 advantage. The success of an exhibit depends largely 

 upon the unity and directness of its plan and a super- 

 abundance of specimeLS serves only to confuse the point 

 which the exhibit is intended to show. The entire lack of 

 storage facilities in our present building has necessitated 

 exhibition of confusing masses of material to the exclusion 

 of instructive and pleasing exhibits. 



Having selected the specimens which will best illus- 

 trate the subject in hand, one must decide how much or 

 how little to say on the labels. Think of the heterogene- 

 ous thousands who will come to this exhibit and with what 



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