The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-11-25


THE PUBLIC INTERESTED.
1t is waste of time to speculate on
most of these questions until we have
collected all the witnesses both living
and dead that may be within our reach.
That is why a museum like this is
never completed, indeed is never final
ly arranged. If it ceases to grow it,
dies and it's remains should be scatter
ed to the four winds that is to en-
rich other living museums. That is
why we are continually calling upon
our Trustees for funds to purchase this
and that, and to organize EXPEDITIONS
to collect objects and information. Ii
in doing this our legitimate work we
can also afford amusement and in
struction to the public SO much the
better, but it should not be a one
sided arrangement as it has been in the
past. No museum in the world is suf-
ficiently endowed to permit all the
work that it's staff would like to do,
or have done, and in return for the
amusement or instruction afforded 1t
seems right that the public should do
more than criticize. Many Of you have
specimens that should be in this mu-
scum; they are of little use or value
to YOU. Why not send them here
where their intrinsic value is greatly
increased by comparison with others
of the same class? Many of you who
have none of these things can easily
aid the work of the museum by sub
scribing for its publications, which
may not be of especial interest to you,
but the subscription helps to make
them better, and the smallness of the
edition will in no distant time make
a set of considerable money value.
Then there are some of you who might
build monument to yourselves by fur
nishing funds for the two or three adj
ditional halls that are urgently needed
to carry out the plan of building. At
present the Papuan or Melanesian col
lections are exhibited in Pol.nesian
hall, but they should have a hall for
themselves The natural history col
lections are crowded and need more
room, and most important of all the
workrooms and storerooms now in de-
tached buildings, small and inconveni-
ent, should be housed in one large wing
where the printing and all investga-
lions could be conducted with economy
of time and labor. If the Trustees
spend much of the income in building
there is less for exploration Or pur-
chase of material. Five dollars year
would secure all our publications as
issued, $4,000 would provide us with
either of the two most needed wings.
THE WORK ACCOMPLISHED.
Now let me briefly tell you what we
have done. We have separated the
Hawaiian exhibit as the most impor-
tant and extensive in our possession
and placed the greater part of it in a
hall where it is classified and arranged
SO that anyone can at once find what
most interests him. The non- Hawaiian
things are also placed by themselves,
each group in separate alcoves. Then
all these things that to the general
visitor are simply curios become the
objects of careful and patient study,
they are photographed for publication
in the printed results of such study
and they are compared with similar
objects in other museums or made by
other peoples. For some eight years
1 did this work alone; now I have a
staff of young men trained, hard
working, skilled and learned as you all
may see by looking around at the re-
suits of their labors. The groups of
Hawaiians presenting the work of
former days; the model of the feiau
and of Kilauea; the fruits that are so
true to nature, and the fish that have
never been better exhibited in any mu-
scum all prove my statement. Are
they not worthy of your appreciation
and your help? In many countries
common carriers take free all speci-
mems coming to a large museum be-
cause they recognize the value in mere
dollars and cents that such an insti.
tuition is to a country, and the work.
ers are freely carried over railroads
and waterways. As we are so remote
from other museums our publications
become very necessary means of
communication, and today our ex-
changes go to most parts of the civil
lied world and this museum that has
grown up in your midst for thirteen
years almost unnoticed is today will
ingly accorded the first place in the
class of local museums by all the mu-
scum authorities
MUSEUM WANTS.
We are Unsuitable in our wants. We
must have every coral, every plant. ev-
cry bird, every fish, indeed every nat
ural or manufactured thing that will
help in the study of this Pacific region.
We are few in numbers and YOU must
help US, as some of the young men in
the schools are now doing, and in re-
turn we will show you beauties of
nature You never noticed before. In
the gallery of Hawaiian hall will grad
ually grow an aviary where you can
see at a glance the life history of our
Hawaiian birds, and in. that same way
we hope to treat other classes of the
children of nature.
The handbook will help in finding
things wanted, but should feel oblig-
ed TO apologize for the absence of many
needed labels did I not know that there
are already labels enough to occupy
your attention in many visits, at least
until our printer can complete the
work. But / will spare your ears and
leave you to the more pleasing exercise
of your eyes.
SEEING THE PLACE.
Before and after the address the Wis
ltors swarmed over the main floor of
Hawaiian Hall and up into the two
galleries above. The interior itself is at