THE 



NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



DEVOTED PRIMARILY TO ALL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF NATURE IN 

 ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 



Vol. 7 May, 191 i No. 5 



THE EDUCATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE ST* LOUIS PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



By AMELIA MEISSNER, Custodian 



The disbanding of the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 gave 

 rise to a very modest institution known as the Educational Mus- 

 eum of the St. Louis Public Schools, which has gradually devel- 

 oped and extended its influence far beyond the original hope of its 

 promoters. 



The two delivery wagons employed exclusively for the 

 museum are being sent out daily loaded to their utmost capacity, 



and come back to the museum equally loaded with the previous 

 week's returns, all schools being permitted to keep the collections 

 delivered for a week at a time. The teacher is provided with a 

 museum catalogue and printed order blanks so that she may select 

 and order illustrative material just as she sees fit. The delivery 

 wagons reach every school regularly once a week. 



The careful handling of the museum material by teachers 

 and pupils is the best evidence of the high regard in which it is 

 held. During the school year 1909-1910, when 23,152 collections, 

 exclusive of books, were delivered to the schools, $15.60 covered 

 all necessary replacing of broken glass, repairing of birds and 

 animals — in short, everything which might be called legitimate 

 wear and tear — while the cost of replacing lost articles was only 

 $5.30. That the system of wagon delivery and collection of books 

 has met with the same appreciative cooperation, is evidenced by 

 the fact that during the same year only one book was lost and the 

 wear and tear of books was kept at the minimum. 



An interesting statistical exhibit shows the nature of the col- 

 lections and books called for most frequently during the past, 

 school year. Here we find 5,933 calls for stereoscopic view collec- 

 tions, each collection averaging from six to ten views ; and again,, 

 2,225 calls for bird collections, each collection averaging from 

 five to eight birds; also, we find 2,015 calls f° r reference books, 



