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. After a very careful consideration of the different possibilities of bringing the schools and the museum together, it was thought best to make the institution a traveling museum which would go to the schools and carry to the teachers the illustrative material which they needed at the time when they needed it. A MUSEUM ON WHEELS. The material is sent to the schools by a large automobile truck in the service of the museum. The schools are divided into five sections, each of which has a delivery day once a week. The principal of a school which has its delivery day on Monday asks his teachers on the preceding Friday to send him the numbers of all the collections in the museum catalogue they will need for the illustration of their lessons during the following week. These numbers he inserts in an order blank for the curator, and on the following Monday the wagon delivers the material at the school, taking back at the same time the collections used during the previous week. WHAT THE MUSEUM CONTAINS. The material in the museum is arranged and grouped in accordance with the course of study followed in the schools. The following are some of the groups: Food Products, comprising the cereals in the plant and the grain, and their products; coffee, tea, sugar, cacao, in the various stages of production; spices, etc. Materials for Clothing. The various animal and vegetable fibers of the world, and the fabrics made of them. Tree Products.-Domestic and foreign woods; rubber, gutta percha, camphor, cork, etc., in all stages of preparation; materials for dyeing and tanning, etc. Industrial Products showing the various stages in the manufacture of glass, paper, leather, ink, pen, pencil, needle, etc., besides such products as are made from the materials mentioned in the former groups. Articles and models illustrating the life and occupations of the different peoples of the world; such as implements, wearing apparel, models of houses, industrial products, etc. The Animal World, mounted and dried specimens, and specimens in alcohol. Plants, and models and charts of plants. Minerals, rocks, and ores. Apparatus for the illustration of physics and physical geography. |