Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-05
TRUE AIM OF MUSEUM
IT'S REAL MISSION rs TO TEACH
THE PEOPLE.
DR.. MacIver Claims That It Should
Be Something More Than a Mere
Collection Of Curious Things.

Engaged In a study Of American museums
and administrative methods, DR.. D. Ran
dall-MacIver. an expert Psychologist and
| resident Of Oxford. England, visited WASH
ington this week DR.. MacIver was a guest
of the Cosmos Club while here. He visited
the Smithsonian and National Museum and
saw the general method of museum admin
istration here and studied the methods Of
the government in caring for and extending
its collections.
Dr.. MacIver is a student of Petri, as, in
fact are most Of the men now engaged in
the work of Egyptian excavation and ex-
pioration. He ia q young man. but has
none the less spent the past six years in
Egyptian field work and is engaged in col
lection for some Of the principal museums
of the. world. His visit to America was
primarily to attend the meeting Of arch
biologists held in Quebec this summer. From
there he went to Chicago and thence came
to Washington. He will leave here today
foE New York and will inspect the museums
OF Boston and Philadelphia before sailing
for home.
Purpose of a Museum.
In speaking Of the purposes OF a museum.
as 1t appeared to him, DR.. MacIver said
that museum methods in America are
rather in advance of those in England. He
said that the museum in England Is still
regarded as more or less Of treasure
house Of curiosities, and that although there
were some immensely valuable collections
in the British Museum. they were not ar
ranged with a view to teaching the public
what a museum could teach Them namely,
the development of arts and industries
along certain lines from the earliest times
to the present day. He spoke particularly
Of the way in which the National Museum
was arranged, and declared that the sys-
tenn Of making an object lesson OF each
line Of exhibits and showing their develop
rnent up to date was to his way Of think
ing the real mission of museum. In this
way, he said, the public was reached and
the museum taught something definite along
the line in which 1t took the most interest,
instead of furnishing a place where 1t
could merely cape at isolated objects that
perhaps it did not understand.
He asserted, however, that he was dis
appointed in finding that the attitude of
the government here was not 80 generous
as he had expected toward the well-devel-
oped museums that already existed. He
said he had found the same tendency to
say nothing of the museum officials. as was
too common in England. But he thought
that the American museums were doing an
excellent educational work and were de-
veloping along the lines in which they could
be OF the most use to the public.
Berlin's Museum Praised.
OF all the foreign museums, that of Ber-
lin, he contended, was the most advanced,
and was the one toward which the govern
ment was the most generous in money mat
tiers. If there was a great scientific find or
great collection to be acquired in any part
Of the world, the director of the Berlin
Museum was, he said, most likely to get
1t If he wanted it, through being able to
outbid all rivals. The administration and
arrangement of the German museums, he
admired intensely, and he thought that In
this regard, as in many others. Germany
Referring to Egypt, Dr. MacIver said that
some of the best work being done there now
is by Prof. Reizner of Harvard, who is en-
gagged on some extensive work for the mu-
scum of the University Of California. He
had not been able to get to California on
the present trip, but he had known Prof.
Reizner well and admired his work, and he
intended to see his collection in place in
California at some future time.