DRAFT OF A CLASSIFICATION FOR THE WORLD's FAIR. 655 



blies of experts, bringiiio; together in council wise men of all nations, 

 were most successfully carried out at Paris. These were in many re- 

 spects tlie most important features of the exhibition, and were so 

 regarded by its management. 



In the meantime the old system of competitive awards and medals 

 has been falling into disfavor, just as similar methods are going out of 

 educational institutions. What was once the chief feature is now only 

 an incidental one, and, although doubtless still a necessary accompani- 

 ment of exhibitions, it is one which is usually a source of dissatisfac- 

 tion to all concerned. 



The theatrical features, at one time in favor in exhibitions, are less 

 eft'ective than in the past; unmeaning and pretentious display is not 

 advantageous. Stupendous towers, barrels as big as houses, temples 

 of cigar boxes, or armorial trophies of picks and shovels, though they 

 have their uses for advertising purposes, and, it may be, for decoration, 

 are matters of but the slightest importance in an exhibition which is 

 intended to commemorate the anniversary of a great historical event. 



The historical and educational idea is the one which seems to be 

 most in keeping with the spirit of America at the present time, and no 

 great exhibition has by any means exhausted the possibilities of effect- 

 ive work in this direction, wherein seems to lie the chief oi)portunity of 

 doing something which has not already been magnificently done else- 

 where. 



The public has a lofty ideal for the Columbian Exposition. The 

 tendency of thought has been well set forth in the admirable letters by 

 Mr. Edward Atkinson to the New York Tribune on the subject of the 

 plan of the Woi Id's Columbian Exposition, and in the interest mani- 

 fested in the essay of M. Berger, the director general of the Paris Ex- 

 position, recently published in the Century Magazine. The Chautauqua 

 movement and the National Agricultural Experimental Station enter- 

 prise illustrate the demand of the public for concrete information, and 

 that of the highest order. 



The visitors to the National Museum in Washington are numbered 

 by hundreds of tliousauds and come from every portion of the United 

 States. The Museum is, in a certain way, a permanent exposition of 

 science and industry. Time after time new features have been intro- 

 duced, seemingly in advance of the public taste, yet in every case the 

 people have not (mly appreciated the idea at once and been pleased 

 with it, but have also shown by their comments and suggestions and 

 generous aid how further advances might be made in the same direction. 



Please allow me to refer once more to the subject of labels and label- 

 ing. By a label I mean not merely the card attached to a given article, 

 giving its name and that of its exhibitor : I mean all illustrative and 

 explanatory matter disidayed in connection with any group of objects, 

 such as placards, pictures, maps, and books, placed where the visitor 

 can use them. I once attempted to make a definition of a museum — 

 an ideally useful museum — in the following words: 



