4 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1960 



for exhibition the best and most significant items from this array 

 of material and tlien to tell the fascinating and often romantic story 

 of minerals and gems systematically and in such a way as to be in- 

 teresting and meaningful both to the casual visitor and to the indi- 

 vidual who already knows much about scientific geology. The millions 

 of visitors who have already studied this new hall since it was opened 

 to the public two years ago have seen, under almost ideal conditions of 

 museum light, the outstanding specimens of the world's principal 

 minerals. The chemical structure of each of the great mineral classes 

 and the specific make-up of each specimen are shown. The physics of 

 crystals, as well as many interesting facts about the geograpliical dis- 

 tribution of minerals in the world's crust, is explained in labels and 

 diagrams. Outstandingly valuable and beautiful gems are shown as 

 examples of specific mineral groups. These displays, taken as a whole, 

 are at once scientifically instructive and esthetically pleasing. 



This new hall, which an unthinking person might in advance picture 

 as a mere collection of rocks, has thus become so attractive that on busy 

 days it is sometimes even necessary for the visitors to form in lines and 

 move quickly past some of the more popular exhibits. 



All this is in sharp contrast to the old days, when only the student 

 who already had a real knowledge of mineralogy had the patience 

 and the interest to stay in the old exhibit rooms and study in detail 

 what the crowded cases contained. The nongeologist who came to 

 the old mineral hall could hardly be expected to carry away with 

 him any new understanding of geology as one of the great and 

 humanly important sciences. For the novice there was no "plot" 

 in the old form of exhibition, and its relation to his general knowl- 

 edge was not indicated. It is no wonder that this "visual storage" 

 type of exhibit often left little lasting impression. Today all 

 this has changed. The static and repetitious tall, dark, wooden- 

 framed cases are gone, and the science of mineral identification has 

 been given a new meaning. 



The transformation that has taken place in this single mineral 

 hall may be cited as illustrating the general change that has been 

 brought about in the older Smithsonian buildings as the present 

 program of modernization of exhibits, in all the new halls enu- 

 merated above, has progressed. 



It is not accidental, therefore, that the number of visitors to the 

 Smithsonian Institution has doubled in the past few yeai-s. What the 

 Smithsonian now presents to its visitors has new attractiveness and 

 new educational significance. In every museum the person who enters 

 its doors profits by his prior preparation for understanding and by 

 the ease with which he can see the objects that are on display. In the 



