122 Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



and meaning little to the average visitor, we have a single group 

 showing one of these birds at home, the purpose of which is to 

 show the conditions under which birds live and to interest the 

 beholder in the study of bird life. 



The idea that the visitor must be interested, though not par- 

 ticularly new, is again one that has gained general acceptance only 

 recently. Nowadays it is definitely recognized that while a 

 museum is an eminently serious proposition it will not be taken 

 too seriously by visitors, that in fact only a small proportion of 

 them seek it with a definite purpose to be instructed, and so a 

 distinct effort is made to arouse the interest of the average visitor. 

 A museum should take itself seriously but none the less should it 

 provide " rational amusement " for the many by whose funds it is 

 largely supported. And this it does by ever keeping in mind what 

 Dr. Goode used to call the human interest endeavoring to show 

 some object or make clear some idea that will appeal directly 

 to the observer and arouse his personal interest in the museum. 

 To do these things and do them well calls for knowledge and 

 training and I often wonder if the public appreciates the fact 

 that museums do not run themselves ; that it takes a trained force 

 to get proper results out of a museum ! 



A museum without a staff is much like a locomotive without 

 an engineer and fireman, the fuel, water, and apparatus are all 

 present, but without the engineer the machine will not move. 

 Did any of you ever do so simple a thing as write a label? If 

 not, try it, taking something with which you think you are famil- 

 iar, a robin for example, or a clam, tell what it is, where it is 

 found, what it does and what it is good for and see what is the 

 result. Did you ever think how many times, and for what 

 diverse objects a museum officer is called upon to answer the 

 question " what is this? " If you have you will realize the truth 

 of the saying that a curator should know something about every- 

 thing and everything about something, and if you have spent 

 half a day in a curator's office you will also realize that a curator 

 has many and varied things to do and that a museum is not a 

 haven of rest. 



