Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-02-11
THE NATIONAL MUSEUM,
WHAT CAN BE SEEN IN TIE BUILDING
THE PROCESS OF MAKING A MUsEUM-THE GEN
ERAL PLAN OF THE ExHIBITIoN-wORK NOW
IN PRoGRESS-INGENI0Us CONTRIYANCEs
FOR SHOWING ExHIBIrS-soME IN
TEREsTING FACTS GATHERED
BY STAR REPORTER

The National museum. in its present state
affords the curious an opportunity of seeing
how great museum is made. An hour spent In
the museum now like taking glimpse behind
the scenes, when great play is in preparation,
except that everything is real and earnest
When the plan of tine museum is fully carried
out, it is proposed to offer for popular instruc-
ton an innumerable series of object lessons,
touching upon everything relating to man and
the globe which he inhabts. Now the great
first lesson that the visitor learns is how to make
museum. The vast building erected for the
accommodation of the museum has been open
to visitors for some time. Here and there cases
stand in place. filed with exhibits while strewn
about the halls are enough rare or wonderful OBJ
Jects to repay visit made simply for curiosity s
sake Some OF the large halls, or corridors. are
protected against intrusion by temporary fences
or partitions of wood. Within these enclosures
the geOlo9ist, the entOm OlOgst the chemist
and the naturalist are industriOusiy at work,
while vast stores of curious things from every
part OF the globe are there packed away. There
is such
AN ACCUMULATION OF MATERIAL.
for the museum awaiting classification that econ
omy of space has been one OF the chief ends in
Ing. Another building. as large as the one just
completed, could easily be filed. In addition to
the collections already deposited in the building
there rein Philadelphia twenty carloads or more
OF some OF the most valuable material belong
Ing to the museum STAR reporter had the
good fortune of visiting the building. in COM
pany with Prof. &. Brown GOode the gentleman
to whom the practical work of the museum has
been intrusted. '''Here is something new" said
ac fhar lnrto ho1c CIR nod
into the YeStibule at the main entrance. The
professor took from the hand of the doorkeeper
little instrument like silver watch in size and
form. This" he said, lis
AN AUTOMATIC REGISTER"
At Vienna and Paris visitors had to pass
through a turn stile, which was sometimes
very annoying. Since the doors of the building
were thrown open to the public, though the
museum is not by any means ready for visitors,
there have been an average of 9, 500 visitors
week. Every time visitor enters the door the
doorkeeper presses little spring on his auto
matte register and the record is made by means
OF figures on the dial. The average number of
visitors to the Smithsonian Institution has been
about 10000 year. Upon entering the mu-
scum building at present amongthe first objects
that strike the eye of the beholder after he has
ceased to wonder at the vast spaces and grace
Iul arches of the building itself are four tall col
umns of wood that rest against the piers about
the rOtunda. These columns consist of GRO
tesque shapes rudeiy carved and cOlored one
upon another. They stood once before the
lodges of four great chiefs among the Aborigi-
nails of the Pacific slope. The ancestry of the
chiefs was told by these columns. The one that
boosted
THE LONGEST PEDIGREE
had the tallest column. A few PAGES from the
door is a case filed on one side with masks
worn by the performers at a musical festival in
Japan, aud on the other with curiously Or
namented panels of wood from the japan. On
the opposite side of the corridor are cases on
whose shelves are arranged rows of life-like
figures in miniature. These figures are from
Japan. China and other Asiatic countries. The
Chief object OF their exhibition is to show the
costumes and vacations of different classes of
people in the various countries from emperor
TO peasant. Here are mandarins, court ladies.
soldiers, mechanics and farmers. All the in
Vulnerable social divisions of China. with the
peculiar insignia of each, are shown among the
little men and women in the cases at a glance.
Here Is immature monarch trapped out in
silk and tinseI. and near by him carpenter adze
in hand attired in plain blouse of coarse fab
ric. The figures made i'll the countries which
they represent are specimens of skilful model
ing, which In themselves well repay inspection.
The museum building is to bedivided into
FOUR GRAND SECTIONS
or departments. One section. in the southwest
corner of the building, will be devoted to min
eralogy and economic geology; the southeast
quarter of the building will be assigned to econ
omic natural history, the northeast quarter to
American ethnolOgy, and the northwest quar-
ter to the industrial arts. One of the spaces in
the northwest section of the building is being
fitted up as a lecture room. This is intended
for the use of the National Academy of Sciences,
and such other scientific bodies, national in
character. that may choose to take advantage of
it, This lecture room or hall will be used for
the first time on the 2lSt inst. when the Ameri-
can Institute Of Mining Engineers will assemble
there. The hall will seat about 600 persons
The sides will be used for exhibition purposes
aud here will be shown objects deposited for
temporary exhibition. or objects that NAV be
received that are especially Interesting and
have not Yet been assigned to their proper de-
partment. Though the immense halls intended
fer exhibition purposes seem at first sight to
take up all the spaces in the building, still.
there are besides these,
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIvE GOOD SIZED
ROOMS
distributed about the structure at the sides of
the entrances, and in the turreted corners in such
way that every inch of space is ecOncmZed.
and one cannot help wondering how they got
there. In these rooms are administrative offices.
reception rooms, laboratories, assay works,
photograph galleries, and all the aduncts of a
great museum. One corner is occupied as the
headquarters of the geological survey and the
Smithsonian bureau of ethnology One apart
me1t on the ground floor is used as q library
Another large room has been styled the archye
room. Here a complete historical and descrip-
tive record OF every exhibit will be kent num-
bered, lettered and filed so that any informa-
tion can be obtained at a moments notice Prof.
GOode has undertaken a
SYSTEM OF LABELLING
which, while involving great deal Of patient
labor, will give great satisfaction to the visitor.
Not only the name of each article anlits nation
atty will Represented, but a brief history and
description oft will be given, together with
references that will be valuable to the specialist.
In some cases where description fails. photo
graphs or sketches will be shown, illustrating
the uses of the articles. Some of the upper
rooms are used for work rooms, where busy
hands are engaged in preparing objects for
cases. In one OF these rooms in which THE
STAR reporter looked there was enough mate
rial scattered about the floor and on the work
benches to tit out "a good sized museum Here
were large number of wooden masks used
among the Pacific coast Indians. By accident
there stood near this collection spangled mask