58 EEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1914. 



The plans for the development of the division aim, therefore, 

 toward an embodiment devoted to the interests of the public at large 

 as opposed to the abstractly scientific or highly technical, and with its 

 energies directed to the extension of cultural learning together with 

 information concerning significant current utilitarian facts. In the 

 attainment of these results it is proposed, to the extent that space is 

 available, to prepare a model reproduction of each important type of 

 mineral industry operating in the field, tracing conditions and pro- 

 cesses from natural occurrence to finished products; around that 

 model reproduction as a central theme to assemble in each instance 

 such a S3^stematic exhibit as will best serve to emphasize important 

 features in both manufacturing processes and industrial capabilities ; 

 and finally, as each respective series is completed, to make it the basis 

 of an educational bulletin for popular distribution. Develo]3ment 

 along such lines will attract»the interest and attention essential to the 

 success of the educational effort; will appeal in affording a direct, 

 comprehensive summary of interesting and significant facts in logical 

 sequence ; and its possibilities will be country wide instead of limited 

 to Museum visitors. 



For the reasons set forth, the research phase of activity has been 

 entirely subordinated to the interests of popular education, and, ac- 

 cordingly, no effort has so far been made to develop a distinct study 

 series. It should be recalled, however, that a very large and excep- 

 tionally fine collection of the minerals and ores of the country, divided 

 into exhibition and study series, is in the possession of the department 

 of geology, in the new building. For the division of mineral tech- 

 nology nothing is being accepted at present unless eligible for incor- 

 poration in an industrial exhibition representative of conditions and 

 operations in one or another field of mineral resources, the general 

 character of which at least has previously been determined for each 

 subject. 



As a preliminary to the development of the division it Avas neces- 

 sary to determine upon a suitable apportionment of the available 

 space among the mineral products to be represented, and this again 

 required the planning in at least a tentative way of the size and char- 

 acter of the exhibits relating to each subject. With this broad outline 

 established, it was possible to take up the details and to enter into 

 consideration with the producers and manufacturers as to the means 

 for securing such models and other materials as were needed. All of 

 this work has been entered into most heartily, but it is of such a 

 painstaking character that, except for the few models obtained at the 

 St. Louis Exposition, there would have been scarcely anything for 

 public display by the close of the year. Through the cordial coopera- 

 tion given the Museum, however, many exhibits were placed in course 

 of preparation, and though some of these will require a considerable 



