Cooperation with Other Museums 35 



Preliminary conferences by President Osborn with Director 

 Gregory and President Judd of the Bishop Museum paved the 

 way for Dr. Wissler's visit as the American Museum repre- 

 sentative at the First Pan-Pacific Scientific Congress in Hono- 

 lulu, in August, 1920. This was followed by Mr. Sullivan's 

 very able and successful survey, which will be completed in 

 192 1 and published by the Bishop Museum. In return the 

 Bishop Museum will help enrich the American Museum col- 

 lections in Hawaiian ethnology and archaeology and both mu- 

 seums will secure fine material for Hawaiian native groups. 



The American Association of Museums, for the present 

 year under the direction of Mr. Paul M. Rea, director of the 



Cleveland Museum of Natural History, is con- 

 Exchange stantly becoming stronger and more influential. 

 Collections ^ serves to spread among museums the idea of 



friendly cooperation rather than of competition and 

 rivalry. It is inevitable that some museums will become 

 stronger in certain departments than in others and will thus 

 acquire duplicate materials far beyond the needs or possibili- 

 ties of exhibition. These materials will either remain idle in 

 storage cases, collecting dust, a source of increased expense, 

 or, after being freely used for research, they will be offered 

 in exchange to enrich the exhibition halls of other institu- 

 tions. This is not only an opportunity, it is a duty to Ameri- 

 can culture and civilization. Every effort is being made by the 

 American Museum, both in America and abroad, to cultivate 

 the most friendly and reciprocal relations and to spread the 

 spirit of good will, and of sacrifice, if necessary, to send 

 material intrinsically valuable to other museums, where it 

 may be seen and enjoyed by the people. The combined mu- 

 seum attendance of all museums in the United States is still 

 smaller than it should be and represents a very limited part 

 of our total population. The celebration of the Golden Anni- 

 versary of our sister institution, the Metropolitan Museum of 

 Art, brought together the directors of the leading museums 

 of the country, and all are agreed that museum cooperation 

 rather than museum rivalry is the note of the coming museum 

 age. 



