TJic Principles of Muscudi Administration. 237 



professional lil^rarians. In a library of this kind, much material not 

 usually of much service elsewhere— pamphlets, cuttings, pictures, technical 

 manuscripts, etc. — will accunmlate and be kept under control. 



Comment.— In the United States National Museum, there are a con.siderable num- 

 ber of sectional libraries, shelved in proximity to the collections to which they relate, 

 and under the direct care of the curators. These are all under control, by means of a 

 card catalogue, kept in the central library, where works of general interest are 

 retained, and may be recalled at any moment by the nmseum librarian. 



XI.— THE FUTURE OF MUSEUM V/ORK. 

 A. — THK GROWTH OF THE MUSEUM IDEA. 



1. There can be no doubt that the importance of the nmseum as an 

 agency for the increase and diffusion of knowledge will be recognized so 

 long as interest in science and education continues to exist. The predic- 

 tion of Professor Jevons, in 1881, that the increase in the number of muse- 

 eunis of some sort or other must be almost coextensive with the progress 

 of real popular education, is already being realized. Numerous local 

 museums have been organized within the past fifteen years in the midst 

 of new communities. Special museums of new kinds are developing in 

 the old centers, and every university, college, and school is organizing or 

 extending its cabinet. The success of the Museums Association in Great 

 Britain is another evidence of the growing popularity of the museum idea, 

 and similar organizations must of necessity soon be formed in every civilized 

 nation. 



2 . With this increase of interest there has been a corresponding improve- 

 ment in museum administration. More men of ability and originality are 

 engaging in this work, and the results are manifest in all its branches. 



The museum recluse, a type which had many representatives in past 

 years, among them not a few eminent specialists, is becoming much less 

 common, and this change is not to be regretted. The general use of 

 specimens in class-room instruction and still more, the introduction of 

 laboratory work in higher institutions, has brought an army of teachers 

 into direct relations with museum administration, and much support and 

 improvement has resulted. 



3. Museum administration having become a profession, the feeling is 

 growing more and more general that it is one in which talents of a high 

 order can be utiHzed. It is essential to the future development of the 

 museum that the best men should be secured for this kind of work, and 

 to this end it is important that a lofty professional standard should be 

 established. 



B. — PUBUC APPRECIATION OF THE MATERIAL VALUE OF COLLECTIONS. 



I . The museum of nature or art is one of the most valuable material 

 possessions of a nation or a city. It is, as has well been said, "the peo- 



