HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM 



Lectures to 



School 



Children. 



Special 

 Lectures. 



Lectures to 

 the General 

 Public. 



Lectures to 

 the Public 

 on Holidays. 



Columbia 



University 



Lectures. 



Instructor. 



supplying nearly 400 of the City schools. The collections include birds, 

 insects, mollusks, crabs, starfishes, worms, sponges, corals, minerals, 

 and woods. 



Museum messengers deliver the collections in a sequence agreeable 

 to the teacher and call for them at the expiration of the loan period. 

 In the course of a year, this material reaches from 500,000 to 800,000 

 school children. 



Pursuant to a request of the New York City Teachers' Association, 

 the Museum in 1904 arranged for a series of informal lectures to school 

 children, the purpose of which was to supplement the classroom work 

 in geography, history, and natural science. These lectures have been 

 attended by thousands of pupils and have now become a regular part 

 of the Museum's educational work. 



Further privileges have been extended in connection with the 

 use of the lantern slides and lecture room. Including the collection of 

 lantern slides deposited by Professor Bickmore, the Museum possesses 

 a collection of slides numbering 35,000, of which fully 12,000 are 

 beautifully colored. Teachers are allowed to select from these slides 

 to illustrate some topic in connection with their work and arrange 

 for special lectures to their pupils. 



The free lectures to the public, under the joint auspices of the 

 Museum and the Board of Education, were begun in October, 1900. 



The first lecture to the public on holidays was given under the 

 State Department of Public Instruction on Thanksgiving Day, 1890. 

 They have been continued since 1904 by the Museum. 



The lectures in cooperation with Columbia University were begun 

 in 1892. 



In 1906 the Museum appointed an instructor, whose duty it is to 

 meet classes visiting the Museum and explain to them the exhibits, 

 thus enabling them to use their time to the best advantage. A large 

 number of the schools are making use of the Museum in this way. 

 Another feature of this work is the children's room, which was es- 

 tablished in 1908, and which is under the immediate supervision of the 

 instructor. 



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