Report of the President 27 



especially through educational work, they have rendered 

 returns to the City far in excess of their contract obligations. 



Without additional compensation from the City, the distri- 

 bution of circulating collections to the public schools was 

 undertaken, special lectures for school children were insti- 

 tuted and special arrangements were made for the reception 

 of classes and for their guidance through the Museum. 



This extension work now involves a supplementary annual 

 expenditure from Trustees' funds of approximately $5,000. 



For the purpose of making the teachers better acquainted 

 with the ways in which the Museum is prepared to assist them 

 in their work, a Teachers' Day was held at the Museum early 

 in November. Representatives from all of the schools in the 

 City were invited to be present and brief illustrated lectures 

 were given by members Of the scientific staff. Addresses 

 were also made by President Henry Fairfield Osborn and Dr. 

 William H. Maxwell, Superintendent of Schools, which were 

 followed by a general reception. One of the results of 

 Teachers' Day has been the creation of a greater interest on 

 the part of the teachers in Museum Extension Work, and appli- 

 cations for the use of the collections have materially increased. 



Museum Extension to the Schools and Libraries. — This 

 is the seventh year that the Museum has supplied the schools 

 of the City with the circulating collections of nature study 

 specimens, and this work continues to receive the emphatic 

 approval of the officials and teachers of the Board of Educa- 

 tion. The material contained in these collections has been 

 selected with a view to placing in the hands of the teachers the 

 specimens which they require for class-room work. At the 

 present time these collections include characteristic forms of 

 birds, insects, lower invertebrates, minerals and native woods. 



The collections are delivered to the schools by Museum 

 messengers and are called for at the end of the loan period. 

 During the year 334 schools have been supplied and 839,089 

 children have studied the collections. 



Several special collections have been furnished to various 

 branch libraries of the City. The material available for this 

 purpose includes Philippine, Chinese, Indian, Eskimo, African, 



