The Popularisation of Ethnological Museums

SPEAKING broadly, museums may be divided into two main classes, (1) those that are designed to interest and instruct the general public, and (2) those that are intended for specialists. Difficulties and misunderstandings arise when these two objects are not kept apart. The casual visitor is impressed, but scarcely edified, by long series of named specimens, and the specialist does not need popular descriptive labels, but he does require a large number of specimens. The problem that is now before most of our large museums is the conflict of these two interests. Probably the most satisfactory solution will be found in keeping these two classes of collections quite apart. Dr. F. A. Bather, in his suggestive and practical presidential address to the Museums Association (Museums Journal, vol. iii., 1903, pp. 71, 110), said, "the functions of museums are three: Investigation, Instruction and Inspiration appealing respectively to the Specialist, the Student, and the Man in the Street. These functions are so distinct that they are best carried out if museums, or the collections of a single museum, be classified on these lines. Such an arrangement is a saving of trouble and expense, and each division can thus be directly adapted to. the class of visitors for which it is intended."