Educational work in the Museum is now under the direction 
of H. F. Thompson, who is assisted by a staff of five. Plans for 
future expansion of the educational programme call for extension 
of all the current activities in such a way as to reach more and 
more of the Canadian public beyond the Ottawa area. 
Summary 
The National Museum of Canada, as an effective institution, 
began in 1910 with the occupation of the Victoria Memorial Museum 
building. Since that time there have been vicissitudes and setbacks, 
but there has always been an effort to maintain a balanced pro- 
gramme of scientific research, public exhibition, and popular educa- 
tion. For various reasons it has usually been easiest to get support 
for research, but this condition is undergoing change, and the inter- 
pretive role of the Museum is becoming recognized. Sound research 
must continue and even expand, but along with this the opportunity 
to view the Museum’s treasures and to sample its accumulated 
knowledge must be made more and more available to the people of 
Canada. This is the responsibility and the opportunity of the National 
Museum of Canada in the next fifty years. 
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