12 



STUDY COLLECTIONS 



How These 

 Purposes Are 

 Carried Out 



Lectures 



The Museum not only maintains exhibits "for the edification of the 

 public," hut supplements the educational work performed 

 by these and their accompanying labels, by lectures and 

 publications of a popular nature. A course of evening 

 lectures is given every Spring and Fall for the Members, to 

 which admission is to be had by ticket; another series of 

 lectures, free to the public, is given in conjunction with the 

 Board of Education on Tuesday and Saturday evenings. Still another 

 series, under the direction of the Museum's Department of Public Educa- 

 tion, is given for the children in the Public Schools, and there are special 

 lectures for the blind provided for by the Thorne Memorial Fund. The 

 educational work of the Museum is carried still farther by means of its 

 circulating collections for illustrating nature study which are sent free to 

 the schools of Greater New York. The extent to which these collections 

 are used is shown by the following statistics for the last five years: 





1909 



1910 



1911 



1912 



1913 



Number of Collections in use 



435 



390 



512 



537 



597 



Number of Schools of Greater 

 New York Supplied 



419 



334 



486 



491 



501 



Number of Pupils studying 

 the collections 



922,512 



839,089 



1,253,435 



1,275,890 



1,378,599 



Study 

 Collections 



The scientific side of the work of the Museum is based upon its explora- 

 tions and study collections. 



The Study Collections, as the name implies, are not only for the benefit 

 of students but preserve a record of our vanishing animal 

 life and of the life and customs of our own and other primitive 

 peoples. 



In the case of Natural History the vast majority of the specimens are 

 in the study series, not only because they would ultimately be ruined by 

 exposure to light but because the display of all material would only confuse 

 the visitor. Moreover, no museum has room to show everything, and a 

 careful selection is made of objects of the greatest educational value and 

 these are so displayed as to enhance their interest and attractiveness. 



The Study collections are, briefly, as follows; 



Atithropology. — Ethnology. — On the attic floor of the west wing and 

 the northwest pavilion there are thirty-three fire-proof store rooms con- 

 taining the ethnological study collections of more than 100,000 catalogue 

 numbers, comprising extensive series for the Philippine Islands, Siberia, 

 China, Pacific Islands, Africa, South America and the various culture 

 areas in North America. 



