t4 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Conceding that its field is wisely restricted to the boundaries of 

 the State., the State Museum should certainly have just as gen- 

 erous and substantial aid as is so freely given today to the 

 private museum by the private patron. It is not enough for 

 New York merely lo recognize the fact that the State Museum 

 exists simply because other states have created and recognize 

 their museums. Nothing is enough for the proper pride of the 

 State and its citizens except that this Museum shall be of the 

 best and an effective arm of the educational service. It is not 

 enough that the State Museum shall attempt to exercise its 

 proper function with only the materials which may properly be 

 designated as the accessories of its scientific researches. Nothing 

 less than the best the State has is good enough for its people, 

 and to permit this Museum to impart its instruction with less 

 than the best, is to affront the people. The Museum of the 

 people of this State should be of such quality as will bring credit 

 to a State which has established a pioneer record for effective 

 scientific research. 



An illustration here is in point and immediate. The repor- 

 trayal of the life and culture of our aborigines, the Iroquois 

 Confederacy, is one of the living functions of the Museum. In 

 the Capitol fire a large part of the historic Indian collections 

 were destroyed, some ten thousand specimens. The loss must 

 be made good, so far as it is possible to do it. Time quickly 

 wipes out records of the past. The Indian relics which were so 

 common and perhaps so little A^alued in our boyhood are becom- 

 ing scarce. The Iroquois Confederacy belonged to the State ot 

 New York and is a momentous factor in its history ; it stood between 

 the French and English cultures on this continent and kept the 

 United States and Canada fromi becoming colonies of France. 

 Every relic of this ancient culture now left among the citizens 

 or in the soil should become the property of the State and that 

 too as quickly as possible. These relics are records as valuable 

 as books, and, the generations to follow us will justly pass con- 

 demnation if we allow them to pass into obscurity and forgetfulness. 



Moreover the State Museum should be recognized as the 

 State's single and proper depository of scientific natural objects. 

 The people should understand that here is where they may 

 come for all information upon the natural products of the State. 

 It is bootless and confusing for the State to maintain a collec- 

 tion of scientific objects in Letchworth Park on the Genesee 



