8 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1«93. 



city — centers of scieiititic and educational activity — the treasure-house 

 of tlie ])eoi)le, filled with memorials of national triumphs in the fields 

 of science, art, and industrial progress.* 



These are legitimate objects of national pride, for upon the character 

 of its museum and libraries intelligent persons visiting any country 

 very i)roperly base their judgment as to the nature aiul degree of the 

 civilization of the people. 



Washington may without question be made the seat of one of the 

 greatest museums in the world. It nuiy perhaps be neither i^racticable 

 nor desiiable to gather together in this city extensive collections of 

 early works of art, but a representative series of such objects will 

 undoubtedly grow up which will tend to educate the public taste, and 

 l)roniote the study of the elements of art and the history of civiliza- 

 tion, and forward the arts of design. Attention must, however, be 

 directed mainly toward the exposition of the geology and natural 

 history of America and its natural resouices, to the ])reservation of 

 memorials of its aboriginal inhabitants, and the encouragement of the 

 arts and industries of our own people. 



It is evident that the jSTational Museum of the United States will of 

 necessity have features peculiar to itself developed in response to the 

 l)eculiar needs of the people of this continent. It should be remem- 

 bered that the national collections of every principal European nation 

 aie divided into sev^eral groups, each uiuler separate administration, 

 thongh often within the general control of some central authority. In 

 France, for instance, most of the museums are under the ministry of pub- 

 lic instruction, and in England, to a less extent, under the department 

 of science and art. 



In the great capitals of Europe the i)ublic collections are scattered 

 through various parts of the same city, in museums with distinctive 

 names and independent in their organizations. ^luch of the work 

 which should properly be done by such museums is omitted, because 

 no one of them has seen fit to undertake it: while, on the other hand, 

 mncli labor is duplicated, which is perhaps equally unfortunate, col- 

 lections of similar scope and purpose being maintained in different i)arts 

 of the same city. One of the chief objections to such division of eflbrt 

 is that much of the value of large collections in any departnu^nt is lost 

 by failure to concentrate them where they may be studied and com 

 ])ared side by side. In Washington the national collections are all. 

 without exception, concentrated in one group of buildings. The Army 

 Medical Museum now occupies a building' side by side with those under 

 the control of the Smithsonian Institution, and this proximity, in con- 

 nection with the long-established policy of cooperation between the 

 two organizations, renders them, for all practical purposes, united in 

 interest. 



' Most of the older nations have musenms devoted to their military achievements 

 and trinmphs, but our country has no need or desire to enter into this iield of work. 



