In the past, the lectures have been given only at the 

 Museum, after school hours, and attendance is voluntary. 

 The large attendance at these lectures is very gratifying, for 

 few realize what a strain it is upon a teacher to bring safely 

 a class of twenty-five to fifty pupils to the Museum. She 

 must get the written permission of the parents of each child 

 before starting; she must take up this work when her 

 normal day's work is finished; she must guard her pupils 

 from accident on the streets. After the lecture is over, the 

 teacher must take her pupils, at rush hours, back to the 

 school and there dismiss them, and it is often eight o'clock 

 in the evening before she reaches home for dinner. 



In view of the severe strain on the teacher, the dangers 

 incident to the transportation of children through the city 

 streets and, most important of all, the fact that many 

 parents cannot afford the necessary car fare, we believe that 

 there is no extension of our educational work which would 

 exert a wider influence and give more practical results than 

 the establishment of a series of LECTURE CENTERS. 

 The plan that we have in mind contemplates the selection 

 of a centrally located school in each district in which would 

 be given, by members of the Museum's staff, lectures 

 similar to those now given for school children in our 

 auditorium. This is a plan which scores of teachers have 

 been urging for several years, but we have not been able to 

 comply with these requests because our lecture force is 

 small and our funds insufficient. With our present staff, 

 however, it might be feasible to open half a dozen centers, 

 but in order to supply the demand it will ultimately mean 

 the training of a special corps of lecturers for this work. 



Many requests are also received from teachers for the 

 loan of lantern slides to illustrate subjects which they desire 

 to present to their pupils. We have not been in a position 

 to grant these requests, because our slides were not properly 

 catalogued and we were not prepared to undertake the 

 LOAN SYSTEM. Chiefly through the gift of Professor 

 and Mrs. Bickmore, the Museum possesses a splendid series 

 of lantern slides. Our collection numbers more than 30,000 

 slides, and since the Albany fire destroyed the original 



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