SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
PLEASE RETURN RELEASE CARD IP PUBLISHED. 
THE MUSEUM REQUIREMENTS OF THE NATION. 
Washington, D.C.--In order thatthe American nation may compete 
with the other great nations of the world in developing the 
agencies of culture progress, provisions for four great museums 
are an absolute necessity. They are the museum of (1) Natural 
History, (2) American History, (3) The Fine Arts, and (4) Tech- 
nology. Buildings for (1) one and (4) four of these are already 
provided, but their utilization is grea‘fyembarrassed by the 
necessity of accommodating great collections which are not germane 
and which should be separately housed, 
The Natural History Museum is a storehouse of all that re- 
lates to the natural sciences and the laboratories pertaining there- 
to, a vast and most important field which cannot be neglected by 
any modern nation, It now occupies in large part the large 
granite Museum building. : 
The Museum of History--of National History--is an absolute 
necessity to a civilized nation. In the United States it should 
represent and fully present the period of discovery, the fullest 
possible presentation of the events of the Revolution, the Civil 
War, and greatest of all, the world war which is now just closed, 
to say nothing of the intervening periods and the future. The 
development of a Museum of American History is an obligation of 
the present to the future that a civilized people cannot afford to 
ignore. It is deeply to be regretted that as yet no building has 
been provided. : 
Thee Art Museum is designed to accommodate all that relates 
to the vast range of the arts of taste, a vital field which so far 
is sadly neglected by our nation. It should stand for the encour- 
agement and promotion of taste and refinement in every branch of 
human endeavor and should serve to mark the position of the 
nation in civilization and in the scale of refinement. It is 
manifest that the success of a people depands upon the proper 
application of the canons of taste to the whole range of its 
activities. 
It is true that the art collections of the nation grow 
Slowly regardless of the lack of adequate accommodation, but by 
no means to the extent that would be possible under reasonable 
conditions. The loss of great collections in the past due to our 
lack of preparedness is a matter of record, art collections are 
made by men of taste and wealth, and as a rule at the e1ose of the 
career of the collector the collection goes to the most worthy 
