REPORT OF ASSISTANT DIRECTOR. 9 



(houjiiit.. Objects which have served us a fomulation tV»r scientific 

 study, or which, from their historical sigiiilicance, are treasured up aud 

 l)reserved from destruction that they may serve purposes of record — 

 |)eruianeut hiud-marks of the progress of the worUl in tliought, in cul- 

 ture, or iu industrial achievemeut — they are not only records of what 

 has been done iu the past, but they constitute the most valuable of all 

 matei'ials tor future >study. The museum of record, then, is not only an 

 accessory to the museum of research, but au adjunct which accom- 

 l>Iishes similar and fully equal results in the same direction. 



The contents of the nmseum of research and the nuiseum of rec(W(l, 

 if no other objects be sought save those abeady mentioned, might with- 

 out impropriety be stored away in vaults aud cabinets, inaccessible to 

 any except the specialist. To give them their highest value, however, 

 they should l>e arranged iu such a manner tiiat hundreds of thousands 

 of people shouhl i)rotit by their examiuatiou instead of a very lin)ited 

 number, aud that they should altbrd a means of culture and instruction 

 to every i)erson, young or old, who may have oi)portunity to visit the 

 place in which they are preserved. 



It is much to be regretted that mauy specialists, intent chietly uj)on 

 the study of certain scientific problems in which they individually arc 

 absorbed, are disposed to neglect the claims of the educated public 

 to the enjoymeut aud instruction which museums affonl. They do not 

 hesitate to say that scientific museums should be administered for the 

 benefit solely of persons engaged in research. At a recent meeting of 

 professional naturalists, an eminent investigator in Jiatural science pub- 

 licly expressed his opposition to exhibiting certain scientific collections 

 to "the gaping clowns who form the njajorit.y of the visitors to our 

 museums.'' JSuch a spirit defeats its own purposes, and such a renuirk 

 deserves no answer. The experience of Europe with its magnificent 

 educational museums and the history of the several expositions in the 

 Uniteil States shouhl be quite suflicient to satisfy any one wlio has 

 studied the matter that the museum is au educational power even more 

 influential than the public library. 



The venerable director of the South Kensington Museum, speaking 

 from an experk'uce of tiiirty-tive years, not only iu his own establish- 

 ment, but iu the work of building up the score of sister uiuseums, now 

 under its wing, located in the various provincial towns of Great liritain, 

 remarked to the writer: "We educate our working j»eople in the jaib- 

 lic schools, give them a hjve for redned and beautiful objects, ami 

 stimulate in them a desire for information. They leave school, go into 

 the pursuits of town life, and have no means provided for the gratifica- 

 tion of the tastes which they have been forced to ac-tpiire. It is as 

 much the duty of the governuu'nt to provide them willi museums and 

 libraries for their higher education as it is to establish schools ftu- their 

 primary instruction." 



