16 



FIFTY YEARS OF MUSEUM WORK 



and our largest and newest museums are obliged to get along without due 

 provision for it. 



It was my greatest good fortune to serve under Doctor George 

 Brown Goode whose influence on the museums of America may be com- 

 pared to that of Flower on the museums of England. Like Flower, he 

 early recognized the educational possibilities of museums and the im- 

 portance of making them interesting and attractive to the general public. 

 One of his favorite maxims was to keep ever in mind the human interest 

 in any exhibit, to show just how and where it touched man directly. 

 And under his direction the U. S. National Museum, and the various 

 expositions in which it took part, exerted a great influence on the mu- 

 seums of the country and particularly on those that came into being 

 later on, after 1880. 



Goode, then a young man, was kindly in disposition, democratic 

 in principle, keen of intellect and fertile in suggestion. Ever appreciative 

 of the work of others, he was always ready to assist them by any means 

 in his power. 



He took great interest in museum work and was a frequent visitor 

 to the rooms where it was carried on— often accompanied by Professor 

 Baird. Like Flower, he was not afraid of doing things with his own hands 

 and to see him with his coat off, sorting over boxes of material, assigning 

 this to the junk heap, that to the preparator and the other to storage, was 

 encouraging to the younger members of the force. His interest in new 

 problems, his desire to take up new work, led him to undertake more 

 than he was physically able to carry out and undoubtedly led him to work 

 beyond his strength. Not only was he fertile in devising new exhibits 

 or new methods of displaying them but he was always willing to listen 

 to others who had views on those subjects and to discuss their plans 



As my own desires and ambitions had been (and are) to make a 

 museum educational and interesting, I was naturally delighted to be in a 

 place where these views were being put into practice and where I could 

 see the principles of museum administration, installation and labeling 

 being put into practical execution. 



Few have possessed greater powers of analysis and classification as 

 applied to exhibits and exhibitions than did Doctor Goode, and excellent 

 examples of his ability in this line are to be found in the catalogues 

 prepared for the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 and the London Fishery 

 Exhibition of 1883. y 

 Another most admirable example of his organizing and administra- 

 tive abilities is the report on the Fisheries Industries of the United 



