306 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1889. 



to Jane 30, 1889, I beg leave to add some suggestions concerning the 

 future. 



The first and most important point to be kept in view, if the growth 

 of the section of graphic arts is not to be arrested, and if it is the desire 

 io build it up normally and properly proportioned in all its parts, is the 

 n ecessity of an adequate yearly appropriation. The appeal to artists, 

 publishers, and others has, indeed, been liberally responded to, but it 

 goes without saying that a collection depending almost wholly upon 

 gifts can not possibly attain to the logical development, the complete- 

 ness, and the superlative quality which alone would answer the ends 

 sought, and be worthy of a great nation claiming to occupy the first 

 rank in material welfare and in intellectual attainments. An even 

 cursory examination of the collection as it now stands will show that 

 it is deficient in many respects, and that in a number of cases specimens 

 have been admitted without regard to quality simply because they 

 illustrated some technical point and could be had for nothing, it is 

 vain to expect gifts of valuable drawings, paintings, and old prints, 

 exceptupon rare occasions and at long intervals. Such specimens must 

 be bought, and it is, moreover, necessary that the curator should be in 

 a position to secure them whenever and wherever they offer. Really 

 desirable specimens rarelv have to wait for a purchaser, and such oppor- 

 tunities must therefore be quickly seized when they occur. 



While, as has been pointed out, the principal aim of the section of 

 graphic arts is to represent art as an industry, there are yet other 

 possibilities within its grasp that should not be lost sight of, and of 

 which it may, indeed, be said that they are the natural outgrowth of its 

 activity. The attempt to illustrate the technical processes of graphic 

 art and the historical development of these processes unavoidably 

 leads, as has already been shown, to the formation of a collection em- 

 bodying the results reached, that is to say, to a collection of drawings, 

 paintings, and prints. It will probably be advisable to restrict the 

 acquisition of drawings and paintings, for the present at least, to only 

 such examples as are absolutely necessary for the elucidation of strictly 

 technical details. There is less call, however, for such a restrictive 

 policy in the case of prints. A print collection is very far from being 

 simply a means of ministering to Aesthetic desires. It may be put to 

 almost unlimited practical uses, and is quite as much an educational 

 apparatus as a collection of books. Indeed, it might be claimed that 

 it is often a much more powerful educational instrument, since prints 

 present to the eye what books endeavor merely to construct in the 

 mind. A print collection, therefore, is not only strictly within the 

 province of the Smithsonian Institution ; it is, indeed, one of the means 

 of instruction which it is in duty bound to provide as an institution for 

 the dissemination of learning. This universal value of print collections, 

 the artistic aspect of which is only a subordinate feature, has long been 

 recognized in Europe, and it is about time that their importance should 



