Cooperation with Public Libraries 27 





The statistics in Appendix E show that, during the fall, 27 talks 

 were given to the blind, at which 245 pupils were present. 



The sight conservation classes have made use of the regular 

 natural history collections sent out by the Museum to the public 

 schools. Many of the classes have also been supplied with large 

 relief globes of the world, which the teachers recommend highly for 

 their work in geography and history. 



In the service to the adult blind, the Museum was enabled to 

 extend a rare treat. In cooperation with the other agencies of the 

 City working with and for the blind, the Museum invited the blind 

 of the City to hear Sir Arthur Pearson, the blind Founder and 

 Director of St. Dunstan's Hostel for Blinded Soldiers, London, Eng- 

 land, in the auditorium of the Museum on February 5, 1919. More 

 than 700 gathered to hear him and were greatly inspired by his 

 address. Before the address, Sir Arthur examined the models, 

 specimens, and other means employed by the Museum in giving 

 instruction to the blind and expressed his appreciation of the work. 

 One typical incident of the evening illustrates the value of this 

 material in correcting misconceptions. While waiting for Sir Arthur's 

 arrival, the blind were examining the specimens on exhibition. One 

 blind boy of twenty or twenty-five was "looking" the owl over care- 

 fully and expressed astonishment that it had only two legs and asked 

 where the other two were. He examined the swan and found only 

 two. The assistant had some difficulty in convincing him that all 

 birds have only two legs, not four. He said that the only animal 

 he knew was a cat and since a cat had four legs, he supposed all 

 animals had four. 



Loan collections, illustrating different phases of geography and 



natural history, have been in constant circulation among the branch 



libraries of the city. These collections include 



loans to Museum specimens, models, photographs, labels, 



public and maps, and were prepared largely through the 



libraries generosity of the Department of Anthropology in 



furnishing both material and information. They 



are delivered to the libraries by the Museum messenger and are there 



exhibited for from one to two months. Their purpose is to stimulate 



an interest in books on geography, history and nature study and to 



increase cooperation between the Libraries, the Public Schools and 



the Museum. The exhibits are seen not only by the casual observer, 



but are studied by classes from nearby schools, and often serve as 



illustrative material for the librarian's story hour. 



There are seventeen of these collections in regular circulation. 

 They have been furnished to fifteen libraries, in which more than 

 104,567 have seen them. 



