11 



In current museum terminology,' the number of " educational 

 contacts " with children and adults through this de])artment during 

 its first quarter century has exceeded several million. lUit, as 

 stated in a previous annual report, the work has been planned not 

 merely for the purpose of disseminating information, which is the 

 chief result of lecturing, Init with a view to securing substantial 

 educational results in addition to information, and without refer- 

 ence to rolling up impressive attendance figures. The work has 

 therefore been characterized by small grouj^is in classrooms and 

 conferences, rather than by large audiences in the auditorium; it 

 continuously involves intimate contact with the personality of the 

 teacher, as is illustrated in figure 2. 



The first formal recognition of Miss Shaw's twenty-fifth anni- 

 versary was a personal tribute paid by the School Garden Asso- 

 ciation of New York, in calling its annual luncheon, at the Hotel 

 Pennsjdvania, the " Ellen Eddy Shaw Luncheon." More than 

 1000 persons were present, including officials of the Board of 

 Education, and the bronze medal of the Association was presented 

 to Miss Shaw in recognition of her quarter century of service to 

 the schools. The programs of the November meetings may be 

 found on pages 81-83. 



It is fitting to call attention here to the extent to which the work 

 of the public schools and the lives of the children of this city would 

 be impoverished without the services rendered by this Department. 

 The work could have been extended and enriched far beyond its 

 present status if the funds available had been nrore nearly adequate 

 to the needs. A tribute to the leadership in this work will be 

 found as Aj^pendix 9, page 141. 



Endowment for Elementary Instruction 



The service which the llepartment of Elementary Instruction 

 renders the schools, and otherwise to the boys and girls of the 

 City, is largely financed from private funds. The total budget of 

 the Department for 1938 was approximately $18,500. The ap- 



1 If, for example, a museum places an exhibit in a school having 5,000 

 pupils, the museum reports 5,000 " educational contacts." This, of course, is 

 a purely statistical report ; it takes no account whatever of the educational 

 effectiveness of the " contact." 



