258 DIRECTORY OF AMERICAN MUSEUMS 



Scope. The aims of the institution are (1) to give information to 

 American manufacturers and foreign and domestic merchants, in 

 order to aid the business interests of the United States. (2) To assist 

 in the education of children of Pennsylvania, especially along geo- 

 graphical and commercial lines. (3) By means of attractive exhibits 

 and lectures to interest and instruct the general public. Lectures are 

 given daily to classes from the city schools and there are frequent 

 lectures to the general public. Collections of commercial products are 

 extensively and systematically distributed free to public high schools 

 and all the lower grades in Pennsylvania. These are supplemented 

 by many sets of lantern slides, accompanied by descriptive lectures, 

 stereopticons, and screens, loaned without charge. 



Library. 26,000 books and 46,000 pamphlets. These books 

 cover every subject bearing on the trade, industries, and resources of 

 this and foreign lands. 623 trade papers are received regularly, of 

 which 350 are from foreign countries; also the official gazettes from 60 

 different governments, as well as statistical, geographical, and other 

 periodicals. The publications containing the statistics of imports 

 and exports of 70 different governments are regularly received. There 

 are 410 directories in the library, of which 280 are foreign, including 

 nearly all the large cities throughout the world and all the cities of the 

 United States with 100,000 population. The library is unique in its 

 collections of statistical publications, directories, trade papers, and 

 consular reports of our own and other nations. It contains also a large 

 number of scientific publications and works pertaining to the various 

 industries. Books of travel as necessary adjuncts to commercial 

 information are kept up to date. There is also a valuable collection 

 of books on the history of commerce. 



Publications. Annual reports; miscellaneous bulletins descrip- 

 tive of the exhibits and educational work; and frequent reports of a 

 statistical nature bearing on foreign commerce. The Foreign Trade 

 Bureau publishes Commercial America, circulated abroad for the pur- 

 pose of informing foreign buyers concerning export goods made in this 

 country, and the Weekly Bulletin, circulated among manufacturers 

 in this country for the purpose of informing them of foreign trade con- 

 ditions. A series of reprints of writings illustrating the history of 

 commerce is also under preparation. 



Attendance. Open free to the public on week-days from q to 

 5 and on Sundays from 1 to 5. 



