HISTORY OF THE RELATIONS OF THE AMERICAN 



MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY TO THE 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



I. FIRST PERIOD: 1869-1904 



Lecture Courses for Teachers — First Teaching 

 Collections Deposited in the Schools 



maintained chiefly by appropriations from the state 



The possibility of the Museum as a factor in public education 

 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 

 lectures collections and exhibits was widely accepted, 



for teachers but as the institution grew it became more 

 and more evident that if the Museum was to 

 fulfil its function it must establish closer relations 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 Superintendent 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 

 with the Museum's collections. In cooperation with the Board of 

 Education, 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 grati- 

 fying increase in attendance throughout the course. This work re- 

 ceived the hearty indorsement of the City Superintendent of Schools 

 and of the President of the Normal College of the City of New York, 

 and was continued in succeeding years. In 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 further extension. Under this grant, Professor Bickmore pre- 

 pared a comprehensive series of lectures to be given to the teachers 

 of the City and State. Twenty lectures were scheduled for each 

 year. The main purpose of these lectures by Professor Bickmore was 

 to give the teachers exact information and to acquaint them with the 

 riches of the Museum in order that their teaching might be more 

 effective. 



