Report of the President 51 



of special books placed by the librarians on the shelves near 

 the exhibits, thus increasing the circulation of books, and they 

 help the children to gain a real knowledge of the specimens. 

 In several instances, moreover, the cooperation has resulted 

 in librarians' bringing their Boys' Clubs to study the more ex- 

 tensive exhibits at the Museum. 



The entire expense of the Museum's increasing educa- 

 tional work for the blind, including the car fares provided for 



_ . . _ the blind visitors and their guides when neces- 



hducation lor . . , r . _ , 



the Blind sary, is met through the income of the Jonathan 



Thorne Memorial Fund. By means of its free 



Jonathan Thome lectures for blind adults and its talks for the 



Memorial rund ■ . 



blind children of the public schools, the 



Museum's education for the blind has continued throughout the 

 year. During school hours ten blind classes have been regular 

 visitors, nine coming from the public schools of New York 

 City, and one from Newark, New Jersey. A schedule of 

 lectures has been followed, and the individual attention given 

 to each class is said by the teachers to have been most helpful. 

 One teacher in summarizing the work of the year said that often 

 an hour spent at the Museum, where the children have an oppor- 

 tunity to "see " with their hands, gave more life and realism to 

 a subject than could be given in two weeks of study at school. 

 The attempt was made, in all possible ways, to connect the 

 material used with every-day life. In the bird talks, the com- 

 mon birds that the children could hear in the parks were used, 

 while the flowers in the flower talks and the tree branches in 

 the tree talks all came fresh from the woods and fields. 

 The small classes, seldom more than fifteen and often fewer 

 in number, sat in a semicircle about the teacher, and oppor- 

 tunity was given to feel the lesson objects carefully. Two 

 hundred and forty-seven blind children, one hundred and 

 thirty-one guides, and thirty-two teachers, making a total of 

 four hundred and ten blind pupils and attendants, visited the 

 Museum for regular instruction. 



Loan collections to the schools supplemented the work at 

 the Museum. The large relief globes of the world were studied 

 by fourteen blind classes in Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn 



