CONTENTS 



Staff of the Department of Public Education — 1917 3 



Lecture Staff— 1917 3 



Nature in the Schools 5 



History of the Relations of The American Museum of Natural History to the 



Public Schools 7 



I. First Period: 1869-1904 7 



Lecture Courses for Teachers — First Teaching Collections De- 

 posited in the Schools 7 



Maintained Chiefly by Appropriations from the State . . 7 



Lectures for Teachers 7 



Teaching Collections 8 



II. Second Period: 1904-1917 8 



A. Introduction of Circulating Nature Study Collections — 



Circulating Loan Collections for Libraries — Inauguration 

 of Lectures for Pupils — Establishment of Special Guide 



Service — Special Provision for the Blind ... 8 



Supported by Maintenance and Trustees' Funds . . 8 



Circulating Nature Study Collections .... 9 



Growth of the Circulating Nature Study Collections . 10 



Cooperation with Public Libraries 11 



Lectures for Pupils 12 



Special Guide Service 13 



Industrial Use of Museum Collections .... 14 



Education for the Blind IS 



B. Extension of Educational Work in 1915 — Lending of 

 Lantern Slides to Teachers — Establishment of Local 

 Lecture Centers 17 



Supported by Trustees' Funds and by Special Appropriations 



of the Board of Education 17 



Lantern Slides for Teachers 20 



Local Lecture Centers 22 



III. Status of Educational Work in 1917 22 



Report of the Curator 22 



IV. Comments of Eminent Educators on the Educational Work of the 



Museum 41 



V. Appreciation from the Public Schools 43 



Appendix 1 47 



Nature Study Collections Loaned to the Public Schools by The American 



Museum of Natural History 47 



Public Health Folios 48 



Appendix II 48 



A. Complete List of Public Schools, Parochial Schools, Private Schools, 



Colleges and Universities, Medical Schools, Schools of Art 

 and Design, Libraries, and Other Educational Organizations 

 and Institutions Utilizing The American Museum of Natural 



History for Visual Instruction during the year 1917 . . 49 



B. Classification According to Museum Activities 54 



Summary 73 



