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CITY LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, 



The Outlook for the Museum. 



Such an occasion as the opening of the second fifty years of 

 activity naturally suggests some forecast of the probable trend of the 

 service the museum is to render in the future, and the part it is to 

 play among the other industrial, educational, and social forces in the 

 community. 



One may confidently look for larger provision in the collections of 

 material bearing on the commercial and manufacturing interests of 

 the city and surrounding country. An equipment illustrating the raw 

 material of the textile, paper, m.etal, and other local trades, the 

 different stages in bringing such material to the completed fabric or 

 article, with examples of the best productions of other localities and 

 countries, could be used as a basis for lectures and class work 

 through which intelligence, skill, and pride in their calling could be 

 developed among artisans. Clerks and salesmen also profit greatly, 

 and increase their efficiency by accurate knowledge of the materials 

 with which they have to do. Many specimens in botany, under the 

 head of fibers, are now available for such instruction. Much, also, 

 may be done in teaching some approaches to scientific agriculture, 

 and the museum may be made a center for spreading a knowledge of 

 modern methods of plant culture, and protection against insects and 

 other enemies. In such a way the use of government publications 

 may be greatly extended. These practical courses in the museum 

 will supplement the service the public schools are rendering in their 

 departments of trade, technical, and commercial instruction. The 

 Commercial Museum of Philadelphia illustrates the possibilities of 

 such a department. 



In the more strictly educational field, the museum is already doing 

 much, but by no means reaching as wide a constituency as is desirable. 

 The class work is comparatively meager, and imperfectly organized. 

 University extension methods should be used on a generous scale. 

 Instructors of acknowledged ability could be secured from neighboring 

 colleges to conduct classes in botany, zoology, geology, and min- 

 eralogy. The unit course might be fixed at six exercises, with the 

 understanding that where the subject warranted the number of les- 

 sons could be increased to 12 or 18. With the specimens at hand for 

 illustration, the use of the excursion to study the country, and the 

 abundance of books of reference available in the Catharine L. 

 Howard and main library, only the zeal and application of the 

 students would limit the results. Popular lectures constitute another 



