394 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSP^UM, 1903. 



and confers decrees. There are 68 different examinations and 120 

 branches. Tliey are held in the above-mentioned 7H0 institutions of 

 learning- themselv^es, as well as at different central localities, where ten 

 or more candidates appear.'* The high school department organizes 

 instruction and lectures in wider circles.'' The home education 

 department has six subdivisions: Extension teaching,'' study clubs,'' 

 exchanges, traveling libraries, public libraries,'' and lil)rary school. 

 The State li])rary department manages the library; the State nuiseum, 

 the museums. 



In the following pages I shall confine myself to the last two institu- 

 tions, and shall, moreover, consider only the traveling libraries, the 

 exchange S3^stem, and the library school, since these are connected with 

 the library.-^ All three belong to the Home Education Department. 



NEW YORK STATE MISECM. 



The State Museum is a museum of natural histor}', whose beginnings 

 reach l)ack to 1836, when the geological survey of the State of New 



« The examiners are appointed and paid, which requires over $25,000. Examina- 

 tions are held in law, medicine, dentistry, veterinary science, accounting, commerce, 

 library science, languages, literature, mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, 

 geography, dcsi-riptive natural sciences, physiology, hygiene, history, political 

 economy, stenography, and other subjects. See Annual examination reports from 

 1894-1897, an<l Examination bulletins, in 16 numbers: For example, 4, Law syllabus, 

 116 pages, 1895; 7, Medical syllabus, 126 pages, 1895. Amuial college reports, begin- 

 ning with 1898; College department bulletins: For example, 4, Professional exami- 

 nation papers, 188 pages, 1899; 13, Business syllabus, 59 pages, 1900. 



b See Annual High School Department Reports beginning with 1898, High School 

 Department Bulletins in 18 mimbers, for example: 4, Academit- Examination Papers, 

 30;> pages, 1899; 6, Associated Ac-ademic Principals' Proceedings of the Fifteenth 

 Annual Conference, 184 pages, 1900; 8, Academic Syllal)us, 224 pages, 1900. 



("See Annual Extension Reports beginning with 1894, Extension Dei>artment Bui- 

 h^tins in 30 nuinl)ers, for example: 28, Report of P]xtension Teaching Division, 26 

 l)ages, 1898; 30, Report of Summer School Division, 44 pages, 1899; further. Extension 

 Circulars, 34 numbers, and Extension Syllabuses, 80 numbers. 



('See Extension Bulletin 23, Study Clubs, Annual Report, 90 pages, 1898. 



''This subdivision (Public Libraries Division) is charged with the duty of stirring 

 up local libraries and advancing their interests in every manner. It does this by 

 counsel, by making up lists of the ]>est books with remarks, by cash appropriations 

 up to $200 a year each, the latter not only to public, but also to all other free libra- 

 ries, as well as to any 25 taxpayers who ask for it together in places where no 

 libraries exist. An equal amount must be raised by the institutions or persons con- 

 cerned. The budget of this sul)division amounts 'to $50,000. See also Extension 

 Bulletin 27, July, 1899; Public Libraries 8; Public Libraries Annual Report, 1898, 

 Albany, 1899, 70 pages (this report, drawn up by Dewey, is a model of its kind). 



/Considerable general information may be derived from a series of small hand- 

 books, some of them illustrated, such as (1) Outline, (2) University Law, (3) High 

 School Department Examinations, (4) Home PMucation Department, (5) New York 

 State Museum, (6) List of Publications, (7) Library School, (8) Public Liltraries 

 Division, (9) Organizations and Institutions, (10) Study Clubs, (11) Library Hand- 

 writing, (13) Paleontology, (14) Library School Sununer Course, (15) Guide to 

 Excursions in the Fossiiiferous Rocks of New York State, (50) Views in the New 

 York State Library, (54) ITniversity of the State of New York. 



