KEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1923. 7 



a very complete series of modern European coins and commemora- 

 tive medals. 



Another acquisition, of timely interest in view of the recent Egyp- 

 tian explorations, consisted of casts of busts of the heretic Pharaoh, 

 Amenophis IV, and his queen and a statuette of the latter, the gift 

 of Mr. Mortimer Clarke, jr. A carved stone figure from the Makah 

 Indians showing the artist's mastery of expression, casts of the 

 LaQuina and Obercassel skulls and skeleton, a gilt bronze harvest 

 bell from China, a superior stone collar from Porto Rico, a series 

 of archeological specimens from Haiti, a remarkable decorative stone 

 pipe from Kentucky and an ethnological collection from Formosa 

 are all noteworthy acquisitions. 



The reports of the head curators in the natural history depart- 

 ments and of the curators in the other branches of the Museum, which 

 follow, give in more detail the additions to and the work upon the 

 collections during the year. 



COOPERATIVE WOKK. 



Efforts were mainly concentrated this year along well established 

 lines of cooperation, in the absence of resources to grasp the many 

 oj^portunities on all sides for widening the Museum's contact with 

 the public. In the broader sense much of the Museum work is coop- 

 erative. The function of the Museum in the classification and ar- 

 rangement of the collections is the promotion of knowledge; the 

 researches necessary for classification and the resultant publications 

 increase knowledge, and the arrangement and the exhibition of the 

 collections as well as the distribution of its publications, diffuse 

 knowledge. For the growth of its collections the Museum is largely 

 dependent upon cooperation, since it is compelled to rely mainly on 

 outside sources for its accessions, having only limited resources for 

 directly procuring objects. The classification of the collections also 

 is accomplished only because of the cooperation of specialists in all 

 parts of the United States, as well as some from other countries. 



The Museum supplements the school and college, carrying forward 

 the torch of learning where dropped by their organized corps of in- 

 structors. The exhibition hall with its well arranged and carefully 

 labeled cases tells a story most graphic and enduring. 



During the year the cooperation with teachers of the local public 

 schools was extended to include a series of talks on Museum collec- 

 tions by members of the staff of the departments of arts and indus- 

 tries and of history before public school teachers, some 30 or 40 

 groups of teachers being reached in this way. They in turn brought 



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