The Principles of Museum Administration. 235 



some method of excluding the general pul)lic from the alcove ni which 

 the party is for the time engaged. 



3. Formal lectures in the lecture hall of the museum, illustrated by 

 specimens withdrawn from the cases, are exceedingly useful, although 

 they reach but a limited number of persons. Such lectures are mo.st 

 useful when in courses and devoted to a special topic; still better when 

 they are addressed to a particular class in the community, as, for instance, 

 the teachers iu public schools. 



Comment.— The courses carried on at the American Museum of Natural History 

 in connection with the normal-school system of the State of New York are an 

 example. 



4. In university towns the use of the lecture room and the illustrative 

 resources of the museum may to good advantage be placed at the disposal 

 of the professors and their classes. 



5. A member of the staff may sometimes do good service by inviting a 

 group of visitors to his laboratory, iu order to explain, with the use of 

 specimens and reference books, some special point upon which they seek 

 information. 



B. — HANDBOOKS AND GUIDEBOOKS. 



1. The handbook and guidebook supplement the label system, and 

 used in connection with labels render still more unnecessary the .services 

 of a guide. 



2. The guidebook, properly speaking, is a brief manual iu which the 

 plan of the museum and the general character of its contents are described. 

 It should have diagrams of buildings, showing the location of the various 

 halls and their uses, and diagrams when necessary of the halls, showing 

 the system of arrangement. The guidebook, in short, is a general label 

 for the museum as a whole. Since guidebooks are usually kept as souve- 

 nirs, they should contain a certain amount of descriptive and historical 

 matter, and pictures of the building and of some of its most notable 

 trea.sures. 



3. The handbook relates to a portion of the mu.seum, either a depart- 

 ment or a special collection within the department, and should present 

 the information conveyed by the exhibition labels belonging to the branch 

 to which it relates. 



When a collection has been well labeled, a complete handbook may be 

 made simply by combining the labels in proper order and printing them. 

 If the collection is complete and well selected, the handbook describing 

 it becomes an encyclopaedic manual of the subject illustrated. 



Printed catalogues, such as have already been referred to, often fulfill 

 the function of handbooks, though usually too technical for that purpose. 



The catalogue should be technical and exhaustive and adapted for the 

 use of the professional student. When it relates to a large collection, 

 and especially when illustrated, it is too large to be convenient for 

 general use. 



