Report of the President 51 



schools of Greater New York and vicinity. This service is 

 valuable, because it has the advantage of direct personal con- 

 tact between teacher and pupil. During the year, 

 Docent 2,758 pupils received instruction concerning the ex- 

 hibits in the Museum in this way. In addition, similar 

 service is provided for Members of the Museum and their 

 friends when requested. Much time is required in this work, 

 for, although the parties are small, the calls for instructors are 

 frequent. 



Heretofore the docent service has been incidental to the 

 other activities of the department, chiefly because the routine 



work of the assistants assigned to this service 

 Cooperation with does not p erm jt them to give adequate time to 



preparation. Instruction in the exhibition halls 

 is important, and the subject is being studied more intensively 

 in the experiment that is being carried on in connection with 

 Barnard College. In the autumn, at the opening of the college 

 year, Dean Gildersleeve made arrangements with the Museum 

 providing for laboratory work in the anthropological halls, and 

 the students in Professor Boas's undergraduate class at Bar- 

 nard visit the Museum in three sections, in groups of from five 

 to nine. For an hour and a half, under the instruction of Miss 

 Ann E. Thomas of the Museum, the collections are studied and 

 notes and drawings are made. 



That teachers, especially the high school teachers, appreciate 

 the teaching value of the collections is evidenced by the fact 



that twice a year, during Regents' Week, classes from 

 Regents' $ie high schools come to the Museum for definite 



laboratory work in connection with their studies. The 

 high school pupils in attendance numbered 8,242, and included 

 classes from the Morris, Evander Childs, Washington Irving, 

 DeWitt Clinton, Julia Richman and Eastern District High 

 Schools. 



The educational work for the blind— evening lectures for 

 adults, and illustrated talks for school children— has been car- 



