Lending of Lantern Slides 59 



school children in the Museum numbered 67, with an attend- 

 ance of 40,005. Lectures to children outside of the Museum 

 numbered 49, with an attendance of 33,761, making a grand 

 total of lectures to children of public schools of 116, with a 

 total attendance of 73,766. The lectures to private schools and 

 other organizations numbered 17, with an attendance of 3,078. 

 There has been a gain of nearly 29% in the number of lectures 

 given to school children, and a gain of 50% in the attendance 

 over the year 1919. 



The lecture work is under the general supervision of the 

 Associate Curator, Dr. G. Clyde Fisher, upon whom the largest 

 burden of lecturing falls. 



The most conclusive evidence of the growing appreciation 

 of the real value of visual instruction material is the great 



increase in the number of slides used in the 

 Lending of schools. Although we have been unable to meet 

 Slide*™ 1 a ^ demands, the number of slides circulated has 



risen from 80,468 in 19 19 to 138,133 in 1920, an 

 increase of nearly 72%. A more accurate index, however, is 

 in the separate loans. These have risen from 1,470 in 1919 to 

 2,435 m 1920, an increase of nearly 66%. This rapid growth 

 may be attributed to several reasons : First, the active coop- 

 eration of the Bureau of Visual Instruction under Director 

 Ernest L. Crandall has been an important factor (not only 

 has the Bureau encouraged the teachers to apply to the 

 Museum for slides, but its efforts have been concentrated upon 

 equipping the schools with lanterns, rather than in producing 

 slides) ; second, the simplicity of the methods of obtaining the 

 slides (Museum messengers deliver the slides and call for 

 them at the end of the loan periods) ; third, the overcrowding 

 of the schools necessitates the modified Gary plan with an 

 auditorium teacher who lectures with slides ; fourth, the great 

 stress that has been laid upon visual instruction methods in 

 recent educational gatherings. The comparative statistics with 

 previous years are given below > 



