10 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1901. 



the Museum staff are occasionally given opportunities to participate in 

 the explorations of other Government bureaus or of private expedi- 

 tion-, in connection with which special researches may be carried on, 

 though the chief advantage results from the acquisition of new and 

 valuable material and a knowledge of the conditions under which it 

 occurred. 



AS AX EDUCATIONAL MUSEUM. 



The educational side of the Museum is intended to consist mainly of 

 an exhibition of all the classes of objects which it represents, so 

 mounted, installed, and labeled as to directly interest and instruct the 

 general public The principal difficulty incident to the proper installa- 

 tion of such a collection, conceding all the space required, lies in the 

 selection of its parts, so that while enough is displayed to convey the 

 amount of information which it is intended to impart, the visitor shall 

 not be overburdened or confused with details. While this policy is 

 being followed in the National Museum so far as its means permit, the 

 lack of room has always prevented a complete or satisfactory develop- 

 ment of the plan, and every succeeding year the conditions in this 

 respect grow worse instead of better through the increased crowding 

 of the halls. The advances in recent years have been chiefly in the 

 methods of display, in the character of individual and group mountings, 

 and in the labeling, in all of which directions exceptional progress has 

 been made. 



A year ago it was announced that all of the halls designed for pub- 

 lic use were then for the first time permanently open, though none 

 were above addition or improvement, while in some the arrangement 

 was entirely provisional. This was only accomplished by the transfer 

 of large quantities of material to outside storage, but during the past 

 year il has unfortunately been again necessary to shut off one of the 

 mosl attractive halls in order to furnish increased space for work- 

 rooms. 



In ibis connection it seems appropriate to refer to the work of Dr. 

 Goode, than whom no museum administrator ever had a better under- 

 standing of the public needs. He labored earnestly and conscien- 

 tiously to make this a museum for, as well as of, the people, and the 

 plans n,>w being carried out are, in all their essential features, of his 

 making. While the assistants might be relied upon to arrange and 

 maintain the study series in a manner acceptable to the specialist, the 

 interests of the public always remained in his immediate charge. He 

 was ev< r occupied in devising ways for s0 presenting the features of 

 nature and the activities of mankind that by the very force of his sur- 

 roundings the visitor was bound to receive and carry with him some 

 definite impressions, some new bit of knowledge. Dr. Goode's labors 

 m this field ranged from the planning of the general scheme to the most 



