Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-05-27
The Children s Museums
BY Frederic J. Haskin.

son lovingly described. :,
Then Mrs. Finn must meet the LADY.
So she was dragged putting 10 the desk o,
the director. BY the time she ieft she iiaa
absorbed some of her sons enthusiasm
Sure she told the lady, this ~ |
soipe thing for tho children. IT'S lot they
need 10 learn in the world besides an iau-
cation
According 10 the director, Miss Griffin, /
this in typical incident IN the routine oi /
the Boston Children's Museum rev /
visitors, however, sum up the function OF
the museum go aptly as did Mrs. Finn.
The need for BOYS and girls to learn 10 !
other WAYS besides through formal school,
ing is more and more realized, we are told /
bv museum officials attending a eonven-
tion here In this connection, they say, /
the childrens museum ls coming 10 De
regarded as an important means OF de-
veloping the child mind. Numerous citie5
here and abroad are planning collections
for the children. either in the form Of Inde-
pendent museums, or IN connection WIN
schools. libraries, or other institutions.
These museum official predict that to
future generations, chlldren's museums
will be as familiar as children libraries
or Fairgrounds.
THREE Npw IN OPERATION
There are now three well-established
children 8 museums in this country, and q
number of variations Of the idea. ne
first one was started in Brooklyn, New
York. 20 years ago. There Is another IN
Boston, six years old, and one was started
this winter in Cambridge, Mass
The idea OF museum for boys and 81 i
first came up when a house was wllled 70
the Brooklyn Institute OF Arts ana
! Sciences The house was taken ior
storage place for extra exhibits. hen
curator cleared out one room and hxed ~
up with shells, flowers and birds Tor the
| benefit of children visiting the main ex-
/ hibit. Word of a museum gust Tor Ghii-
! dren spread through schools and play
/ grounds until the room became 50 popular
| that tho whole building was given over 70
n regularly organized museum Tor school
children
Some years later the public school
teachers of Boston were complaining that
II was impossible 70 teach nature study 10
buoless and pIantless sections Of the city
and To children who had no personal ex-
perience with plant and animal lie 70
meet this situation the Boston Children
| Museum was established out OF funds
| from the public school system and private
subscription.
real children's museum i a place
EXHIBIT cases are low enough 80 that
six-vear-old can examine comfortably
everything in them Labels are IN good
nrint and plain English, with no dry
technical descriptions but lots Of really
interesting facts The curators are al
| wavs watching TO see if the labels are
satisfactory to the children. II ierociolls-
looking beetle is not accompanied ~ IN
formation showing whether he VIII bite
and what he does with his horns, and the
children seem interested IN these points,
the label is revised 20 include them hen,
the chairs IN the lecture hall are cnaidren ,
sizes. and the books IN the library are on
low shelves and right where young
scientist can refer 70 them Without stop
ping tiresome formalItles.
The children like to share their IN
formation and thrills. Thus one very little
glrl was heard describing the model oi a
dinosaur TO little boy.
ALL ABOUT the DiSosArR-
This animal" she said, Impresslvely,
.g;ved before man was He was IS big
A. a house. and if he stepped on you
good night
Wherever they are established. the
museums are used extensively oy tle
schools Teachers bring classes 70 study
the life OF the FsQumaux. Then, once a
week the museum director, or some out
slde authority. gives a talk with lantern
slides. or specimens, or possibly WITH
moving plct5Ires. That these talks are
nopular may be inferred from the iaet
that il is not unusual for q lecture % ee
repeated two or three times by demand OF
children who could not get IN the hrst
time On other afternoons, the directors
sometimes take their visitors out Ia the
museum grounds or for i walk 70 study
nature IN the field.
The enthusiasm Of the children u re-
markable. They are impressed most oi All
| h&. the fact that the building IS for their
own use Ii Is not unusual, the direc ctofs
say. for a group Of boys 70 come back the
day after their teacher has taken them
hurrledlv over the place and announce.
Nov We have come "a see oar ma-
scum All OF the directors feel that the
one thing To do IN such eases IS to drop
everything and answer questions 70 the
best Of their ability.
The directors all say that the first
duty OF their institutions Is not TO pro
y.,de information, but Inspiration Tor
children IN general and more particularly
for tie child who Is interested m science
One boy. who has for several Years
regularly NlSated bilS VI ttA> Adtt@StAA -,
from the first attracted 10 the study oi
insects He is a Jewish boy of a FANNY
With no Il ditious oi higher learning. Fol
over year now lac has been talking 10 hl'
family about gong 10 college a. speciail1,
m the study ii insects At hrst they palt
no attention hut finally they have realizes
that he is determined u become sclen
tist and they have agreed 70 his entering
university
The jewish boy Is not an isolated ease
There are in each ot the museum com
! tnunltles i great many young naturalist
who are absorbed Iii birds or flowers, jus
! as some other children like TO tinker witt
! tools or paint boxes. Miss Griffin tell
! how. soon after her Boston institution
! opened, she was visited one day by a dele
! cation OF five boys who had been stead
! contributors OF specimens. The five stoo
/ aNkwardly before her, and finally on
! punched another, and mutteredp "Jakey
: you talk.
I Jakey swallowed hard and blurted OF
! III one breath, We want TO form clI
! and call il the SONS Of Nature We have
! coat Of arms and set Of rutes We woul
! Ike place to keep our collection
4 The Sons ii Nature Wero gwen rooI
! are furnished by other museums troI
I ~Nt'EMv~u,u.xLxxc