28 Memorial of George Broivn Goode. 



especially the Museum exhibit a success, feeling that the future of the 

 Museum was really at stake. Individuals all over the country were called 

 upon to assist by advice or material in their special lines. Thousands of 

 letters were written and thousands of exhibits gathered. Here Goode 

 had his first training in the arts of exposition, in which he finally became 

 the acknowledged master. Many were the discussions as to system , selec- 

 tion of exhibits, cases, labels, and methods in general. It was indeed a 

 liberal education to those engaged in the work. No test could have been 

 contrived which would better have revealed the strength or weakness, on 

 certain sides, of all engaged in it. Men of whom much was expected 

 failed utterly. Others developed unexpected capacity and talent. The 

 result was a glorious success, acknowledged by all beholders. 



After a certain time the Government loan was repaid, and at last the 

 unofficial promises of members of Congress were kept. A sum, pitiably 

 small if compared with the money devoted by most civilized nations to 

 housing their national museums, was appropriated, and, by a lucky chance, 

 an unparalleled depression in the iron trade enabled contracts to be made 

 to the great advantage of the Government. A building without any archi- 

 tectural pretensions, but giving light and floor space at a lower cost than 

 in any other permanent structure of equal size ever erected by the United 

 States, was finally put up, a new organization effected, and at last the 

 National Museum possessed a local habitation and a name. The direction 

 of its activities, under the supervision of Professor Baird, was placed in 

 Goode's hands, and his career as a Museum administrator officially began. 



It may be thought that the preceding remarks have included ver}^ little 

 about Goode and a great deal about other matters. This is true; but no 

 account of the man and his activities would be adequate which omitted a 

 delineation of the struggles, fears, and hopes of which, in his position, he 

 was the natural heir. A great institution is not created; it is built up. 

 With the mortar of its foundations is mixed the blood and sweat of the 

 builders. Something of the very soul of its architect springs with its 

 pinnacles toward the heavens. The capacity for administration may be 

 inborn, the professional knowledge must be earned. These truths are 

 singularly ignored, even by those who should know better. In fact our 

 people, even those who have much advan.ced the cause of education, and 

 those who have won repute in the fields of politics or l)usiness, have not 

 wholly shaken off the provincial notion that a museum is a sort of toy 

 which an intelligent window-dresser might be competent to manage. 

 The realization of the fact that museum administration is a profession, as 

 arduous as that of medicine or law, seems to be confined almost entirely 

 to those who have actually been devoting their lives to it. That in the 

 case of a national museum, as a sort of general clearing house of 

 national activities in science, and the chief arena of international scientific 

 reciprocity, still wider knowledge of men and their work, a still broader 

 mental horizon, and infinite tact and patience are urgently required, is 

 still less appreciated. 



