THE PRINCIPLHS i)V MUSHUM ADMIXISTRATIOX.' 



By Georgk Brown Goodk, 



Assistant Secretary, Snu't/isoniafi /fistitutio/i, iti diarize of the United States National 

 Museum; iMemhcr, National Academy of Sciences ; America Philosophical So- 

 ciety; American Society of Natui-alists ; Fellow, American Academy of Arts and 

 Sciences; Correspondins; Member, American Institute of Architects ; Societe des 

 Amis des Sciences Naturelles, Moscow ; Societe Zoologique, France; Zoological 

 Society of London. 



ANALYSIS. 

 Introduction. 

 I. The museum and its relationships. 

 II. The resposibilities and requirements of museums. 



III. The five cardinal necessities in nuiseum administration. 



IV. The classification of museums. 



V. The uses of specimens and collections. 

 \T. The preservation and preparation of musemn materials. 

 \'II. The art of installation. 

 VIII. Records, catalogues, and specimen labels. 

 IX. Exhibition labels and their functions. 

 X. Guides and lecturers ; handbooks and reference books. 

 XI. The future of nmseum work. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Ill an article on The u.se and abii.se of mn.seums, written nearly 

 fifteen years ago by Profes.sor William Stanley Jevons, it was stated that 

 there was not at that time in the Engli.sh language a treati.se analyzing 

 the purposes and kinds of museums and discus.sing the general principles 

 of their management and economy. It is somewhat surprising that the 

 lack then made so evident has not .since been .supplied and that there is 

 not at the present day such a treatise in the Engli.sh or any other lan- 

 gtiage. Many important papers have in the interval been printed in 

 regard to particular cla.s.ses of museums and special branches of mu.seum 

 work. Notable among these have been the addresses by Sir William H. 

 Flower on the uses and conduct of natural-history museums. Among 

 the especially significant general papers which had previously been 



' Reprinted from the .\niiual Report of the Mu.^eums Association, 1S95. 



195 



