Industrial Use of Collections 15 



They have turned to the Museum's collections for their inspiration, 

 and have given the movement great impetus. The results may be 

 seen in the designs of silks, carpets, rugs, bead bags, wall paper, and 

 ceramics of some of the foremost manufacturing concerns in America. 

 They give promise that in the near future there will be an American 

 school of design. 



The managers of several of the New York City department 

 stores have shown deep interest in the industrial use of Museum col- 

 lections. They have sent the heads of their departments and other 

 employees to the Museum to study primitive textiles and their orna- 

 mentation. One of the largest firms of the City has now arranged to 

 have all the salesgirls that preside at the counters where cloth is sold 

 visit the Museum. They come with the Company's Art Instructor 

 in groups of about twenty. A member of the Museum's staff shows 

 them a primitive loom and explains the way in which it is used. They 

 are told about the technique of the various modern weaves and their 

 decoration. It is believed that a knowledge of the history and 

 methods of textile manufacture will make the daily work of the girls 

 more pleasant and their salesmanship more effective. 



The broad scope of the educational work of the Museum is in- 

 dicated by the action of the Trustees in making special provision for 

 instruction for the blind. This work was begun in 1909 under the 

 immediate charge of Mrs. Agnes Laidlaw Vaughan, 

 education who resigned in 1914. Since that time it has been 

 for the directed by Miss Ann E. Thomas. During the first 

 blind y ear j t was experimental. In 1910, however, its devel- 



opment and extension were made possible through the 

 bequest of Phebe Anna Thorne, and gifts from her estate through her 

 executors, Jonathan and Samuel Thorne. This generous endowment 

 is known as the Jonathan Thorne Memorial Fund, and provides a 

 fixed income that enables the Museum to send loan collections to 

 schools in the vicinity of New York, to give illustrated lectures in 

 the Museum to school children and to adult blind, and to supply 

 transportation for the blind and their guides to and from the Museum. 

 Approximately one hundred blind or partially blind children 

 from the public schools of Manhattan, The Bronx, Newark and Jersey 

 City come regularly to the Museum for instruction. The visits are 

 made during school hours and are recognized as a part of the school 

 curriculum. In 1913 and 1914, the classes of New York City were 

 divided into two groups and visited the Museum twice a month. 



During the last four years, the work with the schools has been 

 so arranged that each class has received individual instruction. The 

 small number of pupils — from nine to twelve in a group — makes it 

 possible for each child to "see" carefully every article under discus- 

 sion. Moreover, the teacher is enabled to select lesson subjects 



