The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-04-17
MUSE UMS J N TE FOR IMP MOVEMENT AND MUTUAL HELP
National Associations to Join in Solving Their Mu-
 tuaI Problems


 NEW YORK. April l6-The launch ing of a national museum movement which, for the first time. will enable the art. history. science. commerce and industry museums of the coun,tT to attack jointly their common proh- lens, has been announced by Lau- renee Vail Coleman, secretary of the American Association of Museums At the same time Mr. Coleman made public the fact that a grant of 80, 00G has been made to the association by one of the big educational founda- tions on condition that an additional s55.000 be raised from museums and their supporters. Encouraging prog ress already has been made towar1 securing this amount and the com pletion of the fund is in sight, the l secretary said
 The plan of the new museum movement is described in the call for the eighteenth annual meeting of the association issued by Frederick Alien Whiting, director of the Cleveland Museum of Art. aud president of the association. This meeting will celebrate the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Amer icas first museum and will be held April to at Charleston. S C.
 It is expected that the sS5.00o will furnish the nucleus of support for the work for three years. but the project looks far into the future. and ;lans arc being laid for it's continued support and growth. It calls for the establishment of permanent head quarters for the association, probably at Washington The Smithsonian In stitution has offered suits of offices for the use of the associate
 In commenting upon the project Secretary Coleman says In the past 1 museums have sprung up largely by chance and have lived as best they could. but now the time has come for concerted action which will enable museums more effectively to carry on their work. The public generally dsoe not appreciate what museums are doing for education from the Kin dergarten to the university. Already the demands upon their resources far exceed their ability to deliver; and Tn order to meet this situation the pxes- ent organized national effort has been instituted.
 Extensive Publications.
 The first step toward the i'm provement of this condition, and one which is supported most enthusias- tically hy the leading museums of tho country. is the plan for extensive publications which will broadcast the
  ments being carried on under the auspices of various institutions. The publications will report also the gen eral studies to be made by the staff of the association.
 'Another purpose of this national rloVemen is the aim tu dissipate the popular misconcepti0n of museums The nu cum of the past has left in the minds of ma jority of persons the n tion that museums are store Ia, ,.E .t. as loo n estjug chiefly to specialists and hay ing ltte relation to modern life. The asseeiat on pans through the print ed word. motion pictures. and the hetp ef corps Of lecturers. to prns home To the public an appreciation of the fact that the museum of to- day is truly the peoples univer- sitY"
 Another development which the fu- ture is expected to effect is the train ing of q new generation of museum i executives and workers. In cd-opera- ton with un versailles tho association hopes tp bring about the study of museum administration by graduate students in orGcr by degrees to pre- pare for the demand for tra ained ptr sonnel which will be necessary to man tho mus eGms of the future.
 The preram was formulated by the following museum authorities: Fred el ic Alien Wh ting. president of the association and d.rec or of the CleVe- land Museum of Art; Chauncey ]. liamiln president of the Buffalo So- cietN tC .fatural Sciences; Della l. Gl3tfin aircrtcr of the children's
 us :u o Boston: Edmund Otis
 -oft.=. sar of the American
 furI History. Harold
 ,n curator of educatipn
 'd Museum Cf NatutN
 i.~i'r.- Henry .Fairfied q os"orn. .l.eslGeui f the American Iu,"uin of Natur History; Paul Marshall Rea, q rector of the CleVeid lJ Nus cum of Natural History: r.. !.arle Rowe. direettr of the Rhode Islaai ! School eff Design; Langdoh N2i rer director of the Pennsylvania NJ iseum and school of Industrial Art. and Laurence Vail Coleman director ef ] the An1erican Museum of Suie;N