

HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM 



Yet it must be plainly stated that the Museum is constantly run- 

 ning behind; that the preparation, exhibition and description of 

 specimens are not keeping pace with the additional collections. If 

 it be asked, "Why, then, increase the collections," the answer is simple 

 and convincing. In very many departments of science, especially in 

 anthropology, ethnology, archaeology and in some divisions of zoology, 

 if we do not get a specimen now we never shall get it. Other Museums 

 in other parts of the world are keenly alive to this fact and are more 

 or less well endowed with funds; some are better endowed than ourselves. 

 In any case, we do not have a monopoly, and we find that rare objects 

 of natural history are in as great demand as antique works of art, 

 although the prices are incomparably lower. The cost of a single " old 

 master" would fill an entire wing of the Museum with a splendid array 

 of specimens. The prices which obtain in natural history are not the 

 prices which rule in art, but the rarity of certain objects is equally 

 great. 



Long experience has shown that, on the average, it costs as much 

 to place a specimen on exhibition, including the curator's time and 

 that of the preparator, as it does to bring it in from the field. Some 

 specimens cost far more to prepare than they do to secure. This is 

 a new element in museum administration, brought about by the double 

 standard of meeting both the aesthetic and educational requirements 

 which we have set for ourselves. To put a bird on a painted wooden 

 perch, as was done twenty-five years ago, costs very little, and the 

 bird taught very little. To place a bird in its natural surroundings 

 costs a great deal and the bird teaches a great deal. The educational 

 results repay the increased cost. 



A survey of every department of the Museum will support the 

 statement that we are getting behind instead of keeping pace in the 

 preparation of our collections. We now have very large collections, 

 numbering many thousands of beautiful and interesting objects, which 

 have not been placed on exhibition and which cannot be placed on 

 exhibition, without an increased income from endowment. Very 

 few donors of collections realize this, and in many cases it would appear 



[138] 



