REPORT OF ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL MUSEUM. 87 



museums should assume the administration of great quantities of mate- 

 rial sncli as is usually cousiijued to the library or to the ])i<;tnre-gallcry. 

 Otherwise, deficiencies iu groups of objects, which sliould ilhistrate by 

 their collective meaning a general idea, will nuich impair their value. 

 Pictures and diagrams shouhl be freely used as temporary or permanent 

 substitutes for specimens which maybe lacking, and also to supplement 

 and explain the descriptive labels. In many sections it may be impossi- 

 ble to exhibit anything but pictures. It is needless to point out the 

 difference in the iutluence of a series of plates, like those, for instance, 

 in Audsloy and Bowes, " Keramic Art in Japan," the publications of the 

 Arundel Society, or iu Watson's work on "The People of India," dis- 

 played in a public museum, where they are seen daily by thousands of 

 visitors, or hidden except from the initiated few in a librarj', where they 

 are accessible practically to students only with abundance of time and 

 training in the use of books. 



Much of the material usually shown iu art galleries and art museums, 

 such as is ordinarily used to illustrate the history of art, or is preserved 

 on account of its artistic suggestions, may be disj^layed in a much more 

 instructive manner in a musuem without in the least lessening its value 

 to the artist or designer. Portraits, pictures of buildings, of costumes, 

 of geological features in scenery, of ceremonies, and of social customs 

 may be arranged and administered just as if they were specimens. It 

 is even desirable to exhibit in the cases with the si)ecimens books re- 

 lating to their historj^; for it is useful to familiarize the jjublic with the 

 appearance of their bindings and types. For instance, a collection of 

 the standard works on numismatics, shown in a case adjoining a collec- 

 tion of coins, would have a decided educational value, giving to the 

 l)ublic information which they would otherwise have to seek from the 

 curators, if indeed it would appear to them worth while to take the 

 trouble to seek such information, or they should succeed in overcoming 

 the natural hesitation to become questioners. In addition, mnch might 

 be accomplished by having standard works, relating to the special 

 departments of the museum, placed in convenient i>laces in the exhibition 

 halls, and, if necessary, fastened to desks iu such a manner that they 

 could not be removed, while easily accessible to any person who might 

 wish to become informed upon special topics relating to objects being 

 examined. 



The International Exhibition of 187G was the beginning of a new pe- 

 riod of activity for the National Museum. Before 187G no money had 

 been expended in the increase of the collections. In 1875, liowever, 

 Congress voted certain sums, to be expended under the direction of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, for the illustration of the animal and mineral 

 resources of the United States ; under the direction of the Fish Commis- 

 sion, for the display of the fishery resources of -the country ; and under 



