Collection 1472.-Manufacture of the Steel Pen.

Glass case showing the various processes in the manufacture of the pen.

Collection 1473.-Manufacture of the Needle.

Glass case showing the different processes in the manufacture of the needle.

Collection 1474.-Manufacture of the Lead Pencil.

Glass case showing the different processes in the manufacture of the lead pencil.

Collection 1479.-Manufacture of Shoes.

Various processes in the manufacture of a shoe and the materials used.

The large number of exhibits showing the various stages in the manufacture of things in daily use, from the raw material to the finished product, are of the highest value. Properly presented and discussed, they enable the child to look into the social, commercial, and industrial life of a people. Few children ready to leave school have any idea of the great number of processes through which an object in daily use the pencil, the needle, the shoe, or any similar article-has gone in its manufacture. They see only the finished product, and become accustomed to have millions of hands take care of them without even evincing any interest in those who thus serve them. As Dr. Kolar, of Vienna, says:

The children should be given some idea how much thought, how much care, how much labor there has been expended on the smallest object in use in life. They should learn to follow the evolution of everyday objects, should learn to discover what wonders created by inventive minds and human industry their immediate environment contains, what exertion and what amount of technical study are necessary to make the simplest utensils. We much teach the children to have greater respect not only for the wonders of nature, but also for the wonders of human creation.

HOW THE MATERIAL IS USED.

There is nothing in the traveling museum which can not be used in direct connection with the work of the schools. It contains no curiosities nor abnormities, no freaks of nature. It is not a "cemetery of bric-a-brac," but a nursery of "living thought."

The material is not simply shown the children as new and extraordinary things to satisfy their curiosity. The specimens of mammals, birds, insects, etc., the minerals, the natural and manufactured products of a country, in geography, for instance, are placed before the children to verify what they themselves have discovered through their own observation and reasoning as to the animal and vegetable life, the soil products, and the occupations of the people. The objects are handled, observed, studied, compared with each other and with such as have been considered in connection with other countries, and generally discussed. The pupils determine how the products before

them affect the life of the people, their industries and commerce, their intercourse with other nations, their place among the nations, etc. In many schools each child takes up one of the articles and by his reading gathers all the information he can regarding it and presents such information to the class.

Only such objects and pictures as the teacher really needs to give the children vivid and concrete images of what she aims to present should be sent for and used. To order a great deal of material for one lesson, much of which is only in remote relation to the subject and will tend to scatter the attention of the pupils, is not making the right use of the opportunities the museum affords.

FIG. 30.-Material used to render collections accessible and transportable.

A school museum properly used is a most valuable adjunct to every school system. It enables the schools to give the best sensory training, the aim of which is, as Dr. Judd says, the strengthening of the powers of observation and discrimination, the development of the ability to apprehend the objects of one's environment rapidly and accurately. The child must be given clear, concrete images of things and conditions with which he is to become acquainted. We have failed to do this; our teaching has been too abstract.

The

Care must be taken not to go to the other extreme, however. use of illustrative material is, after all, only a means to an end. The right interpretations must be given; the abstractions must be made in due time, in order to give the child the ability to find his way into

the world and to adjust himself to his environment. The material must be so used as to awaken in the child a desire to learn more about the world in which he lives, and to cultivate in him the power to picture to himself facts, conditions, and influences which we have no means of illustrating.

THE TEACHER'S LIBRARY.

In connection with the Educational Museum a teachers' library was opened in 1905. It contains the best publications on philosophy, psychology, education, school management, science, and literature,

FIG. 31.-Teachers' circulating library and study room.

the textbooks used in our own and other countries, reports and courses of study of the schools of the United States and Europe, reference books giving information on all the material in the museum, and the leading educational and other magazines.

The teacher's library aims to put within reach of the teachers everything they need for professional study and self-culture, some of which the public library does not supply. Principals and teachers cooperate with the board of education in making the institution as complete and efficient as it should be. They are asked to state what they would like to have added to the library, and their suggestions and wishes always meet with ready consideration.

The number of volumes in the library is 8,000; 2,000 volumes of the private library of Dr. Soldan, late superintendent of schools of St. Louis, were presented to the institution by his widow.

A catalogue of the library is in the hands of each teacher. She may procure the books in two ways, by calling at the library to select the books she wishes to read or by inserting the title of the book or books in an order blank. The books desired are sent to her school by the museum automobile in the same way in which museum material is sent. The board of education makes it easy for the teachers to avail themselves of the opportunities offered by the library, and these opportunities are most extensively used.

THE MUSEUM IN ITS NEW HOME.

The Educational Museum, at its opening, was housed in some of the rooms of the Wyman School and the adjoining Teachers' College, and remained in these quarters for seven years. During this period the institution grew to such dimensions that the space assigned to it in the two schools became totally inadequate. In 1911 the Peabody School, Eighteenth and Carroll Streets, was closed, because many pupils had left the district, and the others could be taken care of in schools in the neighborhood. A part of the large three-story building, as much as is needed for all the departments of the museum, was so changed as to adapt it to the needs of the institution.

STUDY EXHIBITS.

A large part of the lower floor, including 64 by 32 feet on the north side, 32 by 32 feet on the south side, and the entire corridor, 75 by 15 feet, has been set aside for the display department. One or more collections of each kind sent out by the museum are displayed in proper sequence. These are the study exhibits. They enable the teacher to become thoroughly acquainted with all the museum contains; they make it possible for the teacher to acquire, with the help of the library, such information as may be needed to use the material intelligently and profitably. No normal school or teachers' college can give its students the general information in all departments of science which a modern teacher must possess to go far beyond the text of the book and make her work interesting and valuable. A museum arranged in accordance with the course of study and supplied with a good reference library can do this. The St. Louis teachers make good use of these study exhibits and show no hesitancy in telling how the study and the use of material have widened their horizon, how much better they are prepared for their lessons, and how much more pleasure and satisfaction they find in their work.

The display rooms, however, do not constitute the museum. The museum proper, the traveling museum, is found in thousands of boxes and cases, jars, and bottles, ready to go out and do their work in the schools.

CARE OF THE MATERIAL.

All collections returned from the schools are unpacked, checked. and examined. Soiled or missing labels are at once replaced, damaged articles sent to the repair room, and all glass and boxes and

cases carefully cleaned. Two men repack all the material, and make it ready to go out again. The boxes and other receptacles, for the various articles are all so constructed as to give the best protection and to keep the exhibits in usable shape as long as possible. The teachers and pupils seem to place the proper value upon the museum material. They seem to feel that they are responsible for its care and preservation, and they show commendable care in handling it. The annual loss of exhibit material has been comparatively small.