HISTORY OF THE RELATIONS OF THE 



AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 



TO THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



I. First Period: 1869-1903 



Lecture Courses for Teachers — First Teaching 

 Collections Deposited in the Schools 



The possibility of the Museum as a factor in public educa- 

 tion was one of the motives which inspired that group of public- 

 spirited men who organized and founded The American 

 Museum of Natural History. The general educational value 

 of its collections and exhibits was widely accepted, but as the 

 institution grew it became more and more evident that if the 

 Museum was to fulfil its function it must establish closer rela- 

 tions with the public schools and the educational system. The 

 desirability of museum extension was early recognized and the 

 first steps in accomplishing this were taken in 1880, when the 

 Trustees authorized Professor Albert S. Bickmore, the Superin- 

 tendent of the Museum, to prepare for the public school 

 teachers a special course of lectures on natural history subjects 



to be given at the Museum and to be illustrated 

 Lectu res 



_ . with the Museum's collections. In cooperation 



for Teachers . , , n , r ^ . 



with the rJoard of rLducation, arrangements 



were made whereby thirty" teachers were detailed to attend 

 these lectures. The first lecture was given in 1881 to an 

 audience of twenty-eight persons. The first course consisted of 

 eighteen sessions and, although the lectures were given out of 

 school hours and the attendance was purely voluntary, there 

 was a gratifying increase in attendance throughout the course. 

 This work received the hearty indorsement of the City Super- 

 intendent of Schools and of the President of the Normal 

 College of the City of New York, and was continued in suc- 

 ceeding years. By 1884, the educational authorities of the City 

 and State were so impressed with the value of this educational 

 work that the State appropriated the sum of $18,000 for its 



