VALUE OF MUSEUMS

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 20, 25 January 1938, Page 15

VALUE OF MUSEUMS

MODERN METHODS

INTERESTING LECTURE

The altered outlook upon museums, and their importance to the cultural life of the community, especially from an educational point of view, were subjects touched upon by Mr. F. Tose during the course of a lecture given at the Dominion Museum last night. Mr. Tose. who comes from the Californian Academy of Sciences, has been conducting a course in modem museum practice under the auspices of the Carnegie Corporation, and will be leaving New Zealand this week. His lecture last night was illustrated with lantern slides explanatory of modern ideas in museum practice. Mr. Tose remarked that the Wellington and Auckland museum buildings were evidence that New Zealanders were becoming increasingly aware of the possibilities of museums. Museums in, future, he was convinced, would occupy a more important place in the life of the community than they did at present. Museums in these modern days of longer leisure had an important role to play, and it was imperative that both children and adults should be educated in the proper use of this leisure. Museums should teach them a fuller appreciation of the world they lived in, and infinite in number were the true and beautiful stories which museums should tell. Dealing with the practical aspect of modern museum practice, Mr. Tose said that gone forever were the days of simply stuffing or upholstering animals. Specimens were now mounted so as to appear under - natural conditions, and several sciences were brought to bear to achieve this result. Mr. Tose also explained how specimens were made artificially, and his practical demonstrations and slides proved of great interest It was intriguing to see how cotton wool and paraffin wax could, in the hands of the expert, be made to look exactly like snow, and how glass and celluloid provided an excellent (substitute for water. The part played by artificial lighting in the presentation of museum groups was clearly explained and its Importance stressed. Mentioning ;the classes in modern museum practice which he had been holding, Mr. Tose said that he was particularly pleased with the enthusiasm of those who had attended them. "The willingness with, which they have grasped new means of expression and the ability they have displayed have afforded me great satisfaction; and I am convinced that, given the opportunity, they will eventually produce museum exhibits comparable with any to be seen elsewhere," he said. There was much that went on behind the scenes of which the public was not generally aware, one of the most important things being painstaking research.

A vote of thanks to the lecturer was proposed by Mr. J. H, Sorenson, curator of the Invercargill Museum.