STUDY COLLECTIONS 



13 



How These 

 Purposes Are 

 Carried Out 



Lectures 



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

 public," but 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; also courses of 

 Science Stories are given on Saturday mornings for the 

 children of Members. 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 Education, is given for the children in 

 the Public Schools, and there are special lectures for the blind provided 

 for by the Thome 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: 





1911 



1912 



1913 



1914 



1915 



Number of Collections in use 



512 



537 



597 



675 



671 



Number of Schools of Greater 

 New York Supplied 



486 



491 



501 



470 



473 



Number of Pupils Studying 

 the Collections 



1,253,435 



1,275,890 



1,378,599 



1,273,853 



1,238,581 



Study 

 Collections 



The scientific side of the work of the ^Museum is based upon its 

 explorations 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 con- 

 fuse 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 attrac- 

 tiveness. 



The Study Collections are, briefly, as follows: 



