REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR igi2 7 



of the Legislature of the State that a place be provided in its polity, 

 not alone for the museum of science, which has been in existence 

 for sixty years, but for additional museums, as their need may 

 become appreciated, all under the control of the Education Depart- 

 ment. This is clearly the meaning of a law which, in state legis- 

 lation on this subject, is not surpassed for conciseness and breadth. 



THE STATE MUSEUM IDEA AND ITS PLACE IN THE POLITY 



OF THE STATE 



This State has thus far developed its magnanimous conception 

 of the Museum only along the line of science. So far as it has gone 

 it has doubtless done well in this single direction, for its museum of 

 science has brought credit to it and to those who have shared in 

 its development. The State Museum of Natural History has 

 achieved a distinctive and worthy repute among such scientific 

 museums whose interests are of necessity somewhat restricted by 

 political boundary lines. It is very doubtful if any state museum 

 of science should attempt to enter the wider field of the world and 

 thus compete with the great privately endowed museums of the 

 larger municipalities. Its function is well and adequately defined 

 in portraying in fulness the natural resources of its state. The 

 good repute of the New York State Museum of science has come, 

 however, more from the work of original research which it has 

 fostered, than from the educational service thus far rendered 

 through its collections. These collections have been assembled very 

 largely for the service of the investigations, rather than with the 

 purpose of elucidating to the people the significance of these re- 

 searches. So far is this the case that the science museum, now 

 entering a new building with capacious and well-equipped halls, 

 finds itself deficient, not in the quantity but in the quality of scientific 

 materials suitable to display to the public or competent lucidly to 

 explain the facts they represent and the researches which the 

 Museum has prosecuted. This is a condition which must be reme- 

 died if this Museum is to become a vigorous arm of the educational 

 service. In a very real sense the science museum, notwithstanding 

 its long history and its large collections, is beginning anew, for 

 never within its history has it possessed a satisfactory locus. Its 

 collections have long been scattered through many different build- 

 ings. But out of the assembled material now brought together in 

 the Museum halls of the Education Building, is to develop a series 

 of scientific collections in the various departments of natural history 



