THE EDUCATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE ST. LOUIS PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

To make the child acquainted with the world in which he lives, we must bring him into personal contact with the world. Telling him or having him read about the earth, about the great changes produced on its surface through the activity of nature and man, about the people, their life and work, and their adjustment to their environment, will not give the child vivid and lasting impressions, nor arouse in him the desire and develop the power to do his own exploring and discovering. We must, as O'Shea says, "take him into the world or bring the world to him."

In St. Louis the teachers are given excellent opportunities to put their pupils in touch with the world around them. Entering a schoolroom during a geography lesson, the visitor may find that the children, after a thorough study of the relief map, are transported into the country which is the subject of their lesson. They have before them the typical representatives of the animal world, the minerals, the soil and the industrial products, which they observe, study, and discuss; or they view through the stereoscope or on the screen the surface features, the natural advantages, the scenery, the large cities and their institutions, the people, their occupations, their homes, and their manner of life.

Surrounded by carefully selected objects characteristic of the country, viewing all that is interesting in it through lifelike pictorial illustrations, living, as it were, in the country while studying it, the children receive vivid and permanent impressions of what is taught. The use of such illustrative material satisfies the child's desire for the concrete; it lends life and reality to the work and makes the geography lessons interesting and enjoyable.

The objects and pictures for the illustration of the work in geography, as well as for the lessons in nature study, history, reading, and art, are furnished by the Educational Museum of the Public Schools.

In other cities the public museums have in late years extended the scope of their work of disseminating knowledge to a field where it is of inestimable value. They have opened their great storehouses of information to the public schools and they ask the teachers

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to make extensive use of the wonderful things from all parts of the world in connection with their regular school work. Some of the museums send a number of typical collections of illustrative material to the schools. Others invite the teachers to bring their classes to the institution and to give their lessons there, aided by the wealth of interesting specimens placed at their command; still others do both. In this manner the museums enable the teachers of our schools to supplement the textbook and their own statements of facts and descriptions of conditions by the study of real things, and thereby lend life and reality to their work. This practical cooperation of the museums with the schools is hailed by the teachers as one of the most helpful means of enlivening the study of nature and geography,

FIG. 2.-A few typical specimens of physics apparatus.

of stimulating the interest and self-activity of the children, and of making school work more enjoyable to both pupils and teachers.

St. Louis has no public museum. Washington University, St. Louis University, the Academy of Sciences, and the Historical Society have their own excellent museums, but these can not aid the schools.

In 1904, St. Louis had within her borders a most magnificent public museum-the World's Fair. The exposition gave St. Louis the opportunity to extend to her schools the same educational advantages that museums give to the schools of other cities.

During the entire period of the exposition, classes from all of our schools visited the fair grounds, accompanied by their teachers. From building to building the little folks wandered, gazing and wondering, eagerly listening to the explanations of teachers and exhibitors. The Government Building, the palaces of Agriculture,

Fishing and Forestry, Horticulture, Mining and Metallurgy, and Education, and the foreign buildings were crowded with the little visitors every day. Confronted with the representatives of all nations and all races with which they had so far formed but a vague acquaintance through description and pictures, surrounded by a wealth of material from all corners of the world, the children felt themselves transported into distant lands. The cotton industry of the Southern States, the cultivation of rubber in Brazil, of cocoa in Venezuela, of tea in China, of rice in Japan, of the cocoanut in Ceylon, they saw represented by the real products in all the different stages of growth and development. They had read and seen pictures of the wonderful birds and insects of the tropics. Now they could see them in reality, and this made far more vivid and lasting impressions upon them than description and pictures.

With deep regret principals and teachers saw the close of the fair approach, and with it all the valuable means of stimulating interest in school work disappear. The board of education and the superintendent, realizing the wonderful opportunity of securing a wealth of valuable material for illustrating school work-an opportunity which would never return-appealed to the exhibitors to donate parts of their displays to the public schools. A large number of valuable exhibits were secured, and these formed the nucleus of our educational museum.

When the first attempt at a logical arrangement of the articles acquired from the World's Fair was made, it was found that much new material was needed to fill the gaps and to supply the missing links in the chain of groups and collections which were to illustrate the various features of school work. The board of education applied to some of the large museums of our country to help, and they

responded most readily and generously. Large amounts of valuable material were donated by the Field Museum of Natural History of Chicago, the Smithsonian Institution, the Philadelphia museums, and the Public Museum of Milwaukee. The United States Department of Agriculture gave large collections of plants and fibers. The Department of Fisheries contributed specimens of the fishes found in the waters of our country. Owners of mines and quarries sent the needed specimens of the mineral world. Commercial firms in the United States and abroad presented to the museum natural and industrial products of various kinds such as, cotton, wool, silk, rubber, coffee, tea, cork, leather, glass, etc., and exhibits showing the different stages of their development. Teachers and pupils, patrons, and friends of the school helped enthusiastically in adding to the material. The board of education made a liberal appropriation for the purchase of new and duplicate material and for the general maintenance of the museum, and in October, 1904, the institution was ready to begin its work.

A TRAVELING MUSEUM.

In what way can the material be used most profitably by all the schools? Should the institution be a central museum, its contents to be used by all the schools, or should there be an individual museum in each school? These were the next questions.

It was found that it would not be feasible to supply every one of the hundred public schools of the city with a full set of physical apparatus, with large numbers of scientific specimens, or with full geographical collections to illustrate the life of peoples and the products of distant lands.

The expense would be excessive and the material furnished each school inadequate. It was decided that there should be one museum for all the schools.

How should the material be made accessible to the schools? Should the schools go to the museum, or the museum to the schools?

Because the pupils of many of the schools would have to travel several miles to get to the museum, too much time would be lost if the former method were followed. Moreover, the children would regard the trip to the museum and the time spent in it more a pleasure trip or somewhat of a picnic than an occasion for earnest, systematic study of some feature of their school work. In the museum children are surrounded by interesting things from all parts of the world; their interest is scattered, and it is very difficult to concentrate their attention upon the exhibits the teacher wants to discuss with them.