Public Education in the Museum and Schools 55 



PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE MUSEUM AND IN THE 



SCHOOLS* 



George H. Sherwood, Curator 



At the beginning of the year the Department was faced 

 with complete suspension of its work with the schools, be- 

 _, ■. cause these services are entirely outside of the 



Prospective ■* 



Retrench- Museum s contract obligations with the City. 

 ment Hence when drastic retrenchment was forced 



upon the Trustees by the reduction of the City's appropria- 

 tion for maintenance, the cessation of these activities seemed 

 to be the logical result. However, complete suspension of the 

 relations with the schools which had been developed in the 

 past sixteen years would have been so great a catastrophe that 

 the Trustees were prevailed upon to authorize a limited or 

 half-time educational program. Even under these conditions, 

 the Circulating Nature Study Collections could be furnished 

 to Manhattan schools only, and we were obliged to suspend 

 the service to the schools of Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and 

 Richmond. The lectures for school children at the Museum 

 were reduced to half the usual number, while those given in 

 the Local Lecture Centers and other schools were eliminated 

 entirely. 



President Osborn fully appreciated how serious such a 

 curtailment of service would be for the pupils, the teachers 



and the Museum, but felt that he could not ask 

 Support from the Trustees for further financial support for 

 Education **• Accordingly he laid the full facts before 



President Somers and other members of the 

 Board of Education at a luncheon given at the Museum on 

 February 18, 1919, at which the Board of Education was rep- 



Under the Department of Public Education (see also pages 201 and 202). 



