THE MUSEUM OF THE FUTURE 



Hjl III lilt/ I'lurjuld Oshoni 



FOK the American MiiscMiii this is 'I\>;i('luM's' Ycnv, and our energies 

 arc lor llir time liiriKMl clncfly in the direction of inid\in^ the insti- 

 tntion a more \ilal ])arl of the ureat free ci\ie e(hical ional syst<'ni 

 in w hich New Wnk is destined to h-ad the world. To set tliis forth we liaxc 

 ])rei)arc(l an e(hicational map, which sliows wliat our City offers as a whole 

 in its eomhined schools and lihiMi'ies, in science, literatni'e and aii ; no 

 other city in the world oilers so nuieh or oilers it so j^enerously. 1 w ish we 

 eould afford to ])Ut this maj) into the hands of every teacher and e\cry 

 l)ni)il, for stnily of what mi,i;lit he ca.lle(l the " tieoj,n-a.j)hy of thin>i's worth 

 seein<;- and worth doint:." To show more clearly what ma.\' he seen in this 

 Mnscum we ar(> also issninu' to-day a new (iuide Bool: to all the exhihits. 



In rittshm-.uh i-ecenily I was deli,<;hted to meet a ])arty of San Francisco 

 pui)lie school hoys who had worked their way east thr(>ii<;h all the great cities, 

 and to learn that while in Xew \uvk they had spent the greater part of their 

 time in the Xatnral History Mnseum, in tlie Zoological I*ark and at the 

 Acpiarinm. This little incident in itself proves that we ha\-e already ad- 

 \aiiced far along edncational lines; hut \vc are still not satisfiel, and Director 

 Lucas and the Scientific Start" are concentrating their time and attention 

 for three or four months on the practical and very difiicult problem of eluci- 

 dation of all the exiiihition halls. You ha\-e little idea in walking through 

 these halls what lahor they ha\'e in\()l\-ed, wluit sa.crifices men ha\-e made 

 and are making for them to-day in all parts of the world, how nuich the 

 workers in this Museimi are attached to what may he called the spirit of 

 the institution — nainel\, the desire to extend the call and vision of Nature. 



We realize that teachers cannot all i)e specialists, that we must make 

 many of our special collections more readily understood by you, if you in 

 tiu-n are to bring your i)U|)ils liei-e and exi)!a,in objects and jjrinciple-; to 

 them. In so far as we draw on ])ublic funds, pul)lic education is our chief 

 and final purpo.se; toward this all our plans tend; for this the City erects 

 the great building and gi\'es the larger ])art of the maintenance; for this 

 the Trustees and other friends gi\'e their time and means; for this members 

 of the Scientific Stafi' are exploring in all parts of the world, collecting and 

 arranging objects of natural history constantly in\-enting new methods to 

 attract and to impress visitors, yoiuig aufl old. 



Very few people, even among those who hax'c the means to travel, really 

 see Nature in the sense of understanding it, and to the millions within the 

 cities Nature is practically unknown. So we are interpreters; we are 

 trying to tell in a very siin])lc way the laws which the greatest minds hav(^ 

 wrestlefl with from the earliest times, and we are also trying to add to these 



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