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104
ROCHESTER ALUMNI REVIEW
Another exhibit is a habitat group of
the woodchuck, reproducing the environ­
ment and habits of the animal. The wood­
chuck is rapidly being exterminated for
economic reasons. This group is being
prepared under the guidance of Morris A.
Stewart, instructor in the department of
biology.
Behind the Scenes
It must not be supposed that the acqui rement
of collections and the exhibits in the
exhibition hall is the only function of a
museum. To go behind the scenes of a
great American museum is a rare treat
that few people have enjoyed. Here one
may glimpse the organization and machinery
of such an institution.
The museum work is divided into several
headings. The administration organizes
and determines the policy of the museum
work. Curators prepare exhibits and
do research work. Lecture guides instruct
vIsItors. Those persons who are
admitted into the laboratories and preparitorial
rooms of a large museum have an
unusual opportunity to see how the exhibits
are prepared. There they will also
see explorers and scientists studying their
collections, or perhaps smoking their pipes
and reminiscing with some fellow traveller.
In other rooms recorders are busy cataloguing
specimens and keeping the records
of the museum.
An old popular conception of a museum
was that of a place to go to see wax figures
of monstrosities j or a museum was a retreat,
where the general public went restfully,
assured of peace and quiet for a few
hours wandering about among odd objects.
To some a visit to a museum, while a triRe
dull, meant that one was really absorbing
culture. In such a museum little attention
was given to labelling, and what labels
there were often explained the meaning
of the pecimens in unfamiliar words. Today,
in many great museums of this country,
there are thousands of strange specimens
displayed with stranger labels beneath
them, written in Greek and Latin.
He who passes by such a difficult name as
Homalonotus Delphinocephalus with a
smirk, will stop and take interest if he is
informed that he is looking upon the ancestor
of the great host of modern insects.
Meaningless Objects Unwelcome
Far too many well-meaning persons
think of a museum as a repository for accumulations
which might go to a rummage
sale, a Salvation Army wagon or a junk
shop. Curious, old and quain t objects
may have a place in a museum, but as a
rule they are of small value. A museum
of natural history should hesitate to accept
a model of the fi rst thresh ing machine,
just because someone with a hobby for
old agricultural implements offered it as a
gift.
The ideal museum should not be cluttered
up with curious, funny or lucky
stones j or a bottle of water from the River
Jordan, or a brick from the Chinese wall,
or Venetian glass beads. I t should not be
an accumulation of relics, cu riosities, travel
souvenirs 'and discarded mantel ornaments.
In effect, a museum of natural history
should not consist of a miscellaneous, ·unorganized,
h,phazard collection of objects,
however typical and significant each object
may be.
Factors Determining Selection
The purpose of a museum should be
the determining factor in selecting materials.
The administrators of a museum
should have clearly in mind the demonstration
it wishes to make, the lessons it wishes
to teach, and the development of its future
growth. Materials that do not contribute
to these objects, however valuable
in themselves, have no legitimate place in
the display cases of that museum. Objects
that are typical, rather than unusual,
should be sought. They should represent
the no rmal, rather than the abnormal,
phenomena of the region or science portrayed.
The materials, singly and as a
whole, should re-picture, perhaps even reproduce,
the origin and evolution of the
earth and the life upon it, and clearly illustrate
the laws of natural processes.
Time and place should be important
factors in the choice of articles. If located
in Montana, it is not likely that a model
of the Genesee gorge in Rochester, N. Y.,
would prove of value. The materials in
the museum should be drawn, in-so-far as
possible, from the part of the region for
which it was instituted. When possible,
the local rocks and fossils shou ld be used
to tell the story of the earth and the life
upon it. Even then it will be found that
the local materials will form a comparatively
small part of the exhibit. It goes
without saying that a museum must have
adequ ate equipment, not merely to house
the specimens but also to shaw the exhibits
advantageously. This is a larger problem
than it might appear to be at first.
Not alone shelves and cases, but suitable
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