The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1883-02-11
Our Closed Museums.

Our Closed Museums.
Three hundred thousand people will to-day
pass by certain locked doors, behind which
lie wonders OF art and nature such rs many
OF them would travel far to Sec Yet, though
housed in buildings belonging to tho public.
and though paid for in part with public
money, very few of the citizens OF New York
have over laid Dyes on them. They arc sup
posed to havo been established for tho pur-
pose OF developing the general study Of tho
fine arts and the application OF art to manu-
features and practical life, or for the intel
lectual recreation OF the public OF large;
but on the one day on which everybody
has tho time to visit them they arc kept
like sealed tombs which 1t would be q
proclamation to enter. Occasionally open to
people who can afford to drop their work
and take holiday In tho middle Of the week.
to tho vast mass Of the population they
might as we'll be In Jericho as where they
stand. Rarities OF which everybody has read
and thought, models to which men who have
never beheld them try to assimilate their
work. classified collections which would be
Of the utmost interest to every student OF
nature, however humble, are shut from those
who would be most likely to benefit by them,
and open only to some romping schoolgirls
and to idlers who do not know how else to
while away their time.
No satisfactory explanation OF this anomaly
has ever been given. The fact that many OF
these collections have been donated" by
private citizens only makes 1t the moro po-
Culiar, for why should these gentlemen give
with tho one hand merely TO take away with
tho pthcrc ho doA hat
risk would be run by throwing them opcn to
the people on Sunday. New Yorkers are no
moro barbarous than tho inhabitants Of Paris
or Berlin; and II mischief is to be apprc-
hended at all 1t Is not from tho workingmen
who are excluded, but rather from the very
class that is admitted freely. Tho plea that
respect for the Sabbath compels the clos
ing OF museum doors Is the silliest excuse
Of all. II 1t were valid, no place Of public
recreation should be open on Sunday, the
Central Park should be forbidden ground.
and the fast trotting on tho Boulevard should
be stopped The trustees OF the MetropOl-
1tan Museum are understood to admit that
there is no other reason for keeping their
collections closed Oh Sunday than that their
charter compels them so to do; but they
have made no movement to have the charter
amended. The officers OF the Museum of
Natural History occupy the same position;
and when the subject was last agitated by
the press. the Aston Library and Lenox Ii
brary people practically claimed that they
owned these institutions and meant
to manage thcm as they pleased. But
the fact Is that each Of these con-
Germs owes 80 much to the city or
the State that tho people have perfect right
to take part In Its management. The fivc-
hundred-thousand-dollar building occupied
by tho Metropolitan Museum was put up 1t
the city's expense. The Lenox Library As
ISOLATION has had its taxes RENTED by the
State, and 80 has tho Aston Library. The
Museum Of Natural History has been pro-
vided with its present building by tho city.
The National Academy Of Design. which is
never open free and which has had for years
several collections Of works OF art packed
away In its cellars, Is free OF taxation, and has
been helped by tho State much more than
It deserves.
The Importance OF making these collections
really available to the public can hardly be
overestimated. They should be brought un-
dor some intelligent and systematic control
They should bc weedod OF the trash that they
oil contain some share Of. Their catalogues
and handboOks should be revised by compe-
cent persons, and their contents should be
arranged so that each collection might sup
plcment and illustrate the others. This might
be done without at all trenohing on tho pro-
prietary rights which several Of these corpo-
rati0ns have In the collections under their
care. And whom this should have been &C.
cOmplished, II not before, though there
might, II necessary, be q charge for admis-
sion on every week day, each and all Of them
should be opened on Sundays free.
At present the Metropolitan Museum con-
tains, besides the well-advertised CnsNOLA
collections, and the costly old masters, and
the ant1aue glass, and the Oriental potteries
and 80 forth in the upper halls, the only good
collection OF architectural casts In tho city
. collection which might DO invaluable as
furnishing o standard OF fine form TO every
one engaged In the building trade, but in the
basement where 1t is placed 1t is not seen by
more than one out Of ten Of tho saunterers
who find their way into the museum. The
Lenox Library. the Metropolitan Museum
and tho Aston Library possess between them
what would make really interesting collec-
tion OF old manuscripts and printed books.
There Is no typesetter who has not heard
OF the Aldine editions OF tho classics. and
there are few wood engravers who would not
be benefited by q glance at tho cuts that
adorn the pages Of the curious Dream Of
Polyphile;" but the copies OF these books In
the Lenox Building are practically insccessi-
BILE to them. The collections OF building
stones and OF minerals In the Museum OF
Natural History might readily DO made OF the
greatest practical Importance without detract'
Ing from whatever scientific value they may
have by more thorough system Of label