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CITY LIBRARY ASSOCIATION 



Week day series and single lectures have been given as hereto- 

 fore. In astronomy, work conducted out of doors so far as the 

 weather would permit, was amplified by use of the telescope at the 

 Central High School, which revealed to many the surface of the 

 moon, the planet Saturn and its rings, nebulae, and other wonders 

 of the universe. 



An exceptionally good geology lecture, followed by field ex- 

 ercises, under the direction of Professor George H. Barton, was the 

 treat of the year for local geologists, and an equally good lecture 

 for the students of birds was given by the late Wells W. Cooke of 

 the United States Biological survey. 



The children were not forgotten in the years' program, and by 

 invitation of the museum, on March 28th, thirty-five hundred 

 pupils from the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades of the public 

 schools, assembled at the Municipal Auditorium to see Mr. William 

 L. Finley's wonderful moving pictures of wild birds and other 

 animals. It was indeed a valuable lecture that accompanied the 

 pictures, and many enthusiastic letters received from children left 

 no doubt of their appreciation. The perfect conduct of this great 

 gathering of young people was a credit to them and to their teachers, 

 who in this and other activities have shown a fine spirit of coopera- 

 tion. 



School Work at the Museum 

 Classes 



Classes have been conducted at the museum the past year with 

 increased success. One thousand three hundred and thirty six 

 pupils in classes have come for assigned work, and eight hundred 

 and eighty in thirty-five classes have come during recitation hours 

 for class room instruction by their teachers, and to study material 

 from the exhibits illustrating the subjects taught. The collections 

 especially used for such exercises are local rocks, maps, the Ferret 

 collection of volcanic specimens, and photographs, fibers, grains, 

 and woods. The practical value of such talks is illustrated by the 

 use of a reUef map of New England by the High School of Com- 

 merce in a lesson on the physical features of Hampden county 

 which serve as a background for the development of the commer- 

 cial cities of southern New England. For more general work pupils 

 are directed to inspect the museum and write essays on such sub- 

 jects as "What the museum teaches the people," ''The advan- 

 tages of a museum to a city or community," etc. 



