EEPOET OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1909. 11 



the new building, as i^roposed to Congress, the subjects which are 

 best represented, which have been as a whole most completely classi- 

 fied and can therefore be most advantageously exhibited for the 

 benefit of the public, namely, ethnology, archeology, natural history, 

 and geology, the older buildings may be turned over to the arts and 

 industries, in several branches of which the collections are already 

 important and extensive. 



With its collections thus distributed between the three buildings, 

 all fireproof and of substantial construction, the National Museum 

 may be expected to enter upon an era of renewed prosperity and use- 

 fulness. 



While it is the primary duty of a museum to preserve the objects 

 confided to its care, as it is that of a library to preserve its books 

 and manuscripts, yet the imj^ortance of public collections rests not 

 upon the mere basis of custodianship, nor upon the number of 

 specimens assembled and their money value, but upon the use to 

 which they are put. Judged by this standard, the National Museum 

 may claim to have reached a high state of efficiency. From an 

 educational point of view it is of great value to those persons who are 

 so fortunate as to reside in Washington or who are able to visit the 

 nation's capital. In its well-designed cases, in which every detail of 

 structure, appointment, and color is considered, a selection of repre- 

 sentative objects is placed on view to the public, all being carefully 

 labeled individually and in groups. The child as well as the adult 

 has been provided for, and the kindergarten pupil and the high- 

 school scholar can be seen here, supplementing their class-room games 

 or studies. Under authority from Congress, the small colleges and 

 higher grades of schools and academies throughout the land, espe- 

 cially in places where museums do not exist, are also being aided in 

 their educational work by sets of duplicate specimens, selected and 

 labeled to meet the needs of both teachers and pupils. 



Xor hac the elementary or even the higher education been by any 

 means the sole gainer from the work of the Museum. To advance 

 knowledge, to gradually extend the boundaries of learning, has been 

 one of the great tasks to which the Museum, in consonance with the 

 spirit of the Institution, has set itself from the first. Its staff, 

 though chiefly engaged in the duties incident to the care, classifica- 

 tion, and labeling of collections in order that they mav be accessible 

 to the public and to students, has yet in these operations made im- 

 portant discoveries in every department of the Museum's activities, 

 which have in turn been communicated to other scholars through its 

 numerous publications. But the collections have not been held for 

 the study of the staff nor for the scientific advancement of those 



