d inevitably to the conclusion that
their most important purpose--whether they are museums of natural
history, of antiquities, or of art--is to serve as safe and permanent
"repositories" (the old word used in the British Museum Act of 1753)
for specimens which are costly and difficult to obtain--not to be
either "picked up" or readily "housed" by everybody, and at the same
time of real importance as "records." The first and most commanding
duty of those who set up and maintain a public museum is to preserve
actual things as records--records of the existence in this or that
locality of each kind of plant and animal, records of the former
existence of extinct plants and animals, with irrefragable certainty
as to the locality and the exact strata in which they were
found--records of prehistoric man, his weapons and art, and of the
animals found with them, records of modern times. Everyone is familiar
with this duty of the State and of local public bodies, when it is a
matter of preserving written and printed records. They are preserved
in various public offices and libraries, and are continually being
studied by experts (volunteers or official) and copied in print, so as
to furnish us with accurate knowledge of the past.

It is the first and leading business of museums to collect and
preserve, with great accuracy as to the locality and circumstances in
which each was found, the actual concrete things which are the records
of nature, and of the various stages of man's art and industries in
every region of the world, just as a library or the Record Office
preserves manuscripts and printed documents and books. Collections of
such specimens are often made by private individuals, and become too
cumbersome for him or his heirs to keep in order. They are then
frequently given to a public museum, and I regret to say in many
provincial museums are neglected and become mere rubbish, even if they
were not so when first given. Often such gifts are rubbish before they
are received, and should never have been accepted. But in a great many
instances the local museum of a country town is nothing but a
rubbish-heap, because the townspeople will not spend the money
necessary to obtain the services of a capable curator and to provide
cases, labels, catalogues, and attendance. The town councillors
usually know nothing about the museum or the value of the objects
gathered there, and do not recognise the duty of making it an orderly
and carefu