Report of the Museum of Natural History 



Outstanding features at the Museum of Natural History for the past 

 year are a successful lecture season, a nearer approach to perfect co- 

 ordination of museum and school work, noteworthy additions by gifts to 

 all departments, and a deepening conviction of the needs of an active 

 institution that has wholly outgrown its equipment. 



For the second year the Museum's program for extension work has 

 been a response to requests from teachers, or to some special or current 

 interest, as follows : — 



Lectures and Credit Courses. 



On Saturday mornings through the winter two classes of sixty adults 

 have met in the Museum's basement to study mineralogy with the aid 

 of specimens and apparatus. This work, conducted admirably by Miss 

 Fannie A. Stebbins, attracted principals of some of our largest schools, a 

 member of the faculty of our local college and teachers from adjoining 

 towns as well as this city, all desiring to refresh memories of a subject or 

 acquire new knowledge to be presented to classes. Field work followed 

 these lessons. 



Dr. William B. Kirkham's course of eight lectures on the History of 

 the Human Body appealed to gratifying audiences including teachers, 

 physicians, students and many persons who found the subject especially 

 timely in connection with the renewed interest in evolution. In this ex- 

 cellent course, lectures were particularly well presented and received. 



In these two courses it was possible for teachers to work for academic 

 credits, and points were given by the Junior College to 34 members who 

 took final examinations. 



Working for credits has stimulated interest in opportunities offered 

 by the Museum, and has resulted in establishing a closer contact of 

 Museum and the teaching force. That she may work for credits and 

 still get new ideas about her subject, the teacher makes more suggestions 

 than formerly. The assembling of such suggestions results in programs 

 that have been asked for by a considerable number of persons. In mak- 

 ing a choice from topics the Museum endeavors to select what is also of 

 current public interest. 



Dr. George E. Dawson for the 7th season lectured under the auspices 

 of the Museum. His discussion of the subject Manual Work and the 

 Human Brain, in three lectures, was closely followed by large audiences 

 of men and women who are always eager to listen to Springfield's eminent 

 psychologist. 



Dr. A. A. Allen, well know ornithologist and member of the faculty 

 of Cornell University, in a motion picture lecture of unusual merit, de- 

 lighted several hundred bird lovers. 



