HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM 
MUSEUM EXTENSION 
The Museum has already entered upon a method of Museum 
Extension which reaches the entire school system of the City through 
the circulation of small traveling museums. Within its walls there 
has been established a CHILDREN'S ROOM, which promises to 
become a more important feature as time goes on. Children's Rooms 
have been successfully established in the Brooklyn Museum of Arts 
and Sciences, and the Smithsonian Institution at Washington. The 
American Museum has also made a beginning in reaching the blind 
through a MUSEUM FOR THE BLIND, the first of its kind to 
our knowledge. 
The final recommendation of this volume is that the Trustees and 
Members should be willing to consider the advisability of establishing 
an 
EAST SIDE BRANCH MUSEUM 
placed in the most congested district of the City, in the center of a 
population eager for education and keenly appreciative both of the 
Branch Library and of the Free Lecture Systems. The attendance at 
the Aquarium, which is within easy reach of the congested East Side 
district, amounting to more than three millions a year, gives some idea 
of the number of people, both old and young, who could be reached 
and educated through a branch. Such an institution should be the 
gift of some special benefactor and philanthropist. It should be amply 
endowed, so as not to be a tax on the parent institution. It should 
enjoy a maintenance fund from the City which would provide merely 
for its upkeep and administration, but not for its collections. The 
parent Museum could contribute to such a branch, without sacrifice, 
many admirable educational exhibits. Such a branch would be a great 
force in the public education of the newcomers of all lands who are 
crowding into the East Side of the City. Similar undertakings in 
London have met with extraordinary success and popular approval. 
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