Industrial museums

Title

Industrial museums

Creator

Sage, Raymond R.

Language

English

Year

1914

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

INDUSTRIAL MUSEUMS. Ely RAV~O >IO II. SAG~. G~neral 011\c~. T HERE appears to be a definite movement in the United States and Europe to establish technical industrial museums, the purpose of which is to demonstrate the technical or industrial progress made during recent years. Such a mo~ement seems equally appropriate in the Philippines. While we cannot look forward to nor expect to establish elaborate museums, yet the time appears opportune to establish the nuclei of such institutions. As has been demonstrated, industrial museums in the Philippines are paying investments which give big returns considering the capital invested in them. School and household articles and mounted specimens of industrial plants and fibers common to divisions, together with information relative to their appearance, habitat, preparation, and use are the essential con· tents of such a museum. Aside f rom the large General Office museum of craft work done in the Philippine public schools, it appears practical that each division office should be equipped with a provincial museum in which industrial articles and materials pertaining to the divi· sion are on display. Supplementary museums should also be founded in each district. Such an organization of correlated museums will materially aid new teachers, whether they be classroom or supervising teachers, in that it will give them an insight into the quality and kind of work being done within the division or supervising district, and acquaint them with the work inaugurated during the previous year. Jt will show the class, standard, and quality of nrticles previously made and desired, as well as the local materials available and the foreign materials necessary to cnrry on classes in industrial instruction. Thus the work, instead of being retarded as is generally the case when a teacher is assigned to a school or district with which he is unfamiliar, will steadily advance. Another purpose of such museums is to furn ish to industrial traveling teachers and supervising teachers a convenient local supply of standard models of high quality. The museum of the General Office may be called upon from time to time to loan model articles. It is presumed that the question of money is one of the arguments against the accomplishment of the above.mentioned 669 670 THE PHILIPPINE CRAFTSMA.N plan. However, with the coOperation of teachers and with little financial help, museums throughout the Philippines can be established in such a manner as not to deplete provincial or municipal funds set aside for industrial instruction. Jt is further presumed that all articles will not be purchased directly by municipalities or provinces. Beginning with district museums, the following plan is suggested: (a) Articles to be furnished by1. Contribution by pupils. 2. Purchase made from pupils' funds. 3. Purchases made from municipal funds. (Each school of the district to furnish 5 or more articles, without cost, each semester.) (b) Only choice articles of the district should be chosen from the standpoint of use, utility, workmanship, design, shape, color, and commercial possibilities. (c) Upon procuring such articles for this purpose, they should be immediately taken up as municipal property, accounted for as such, and a municipal teacher should be made accountable for them. (d) The display should be open for the inspection of pupils and teachers at all times. The teacher detailed as keeper of the museum should see that all articles are proper ly tagged, that none are lost or stolen, that they are kept free from dirt and school-room dust, and that the place in which they are kept is sanitary and vermin proof. (e) The display should be kept in the office of the supervising teacher. ln addition to the industrial articles, there should be kept on file specimens of prepared and unprepared industrial materials common to the locality and district. lnfonnation pertaining to these as to their appearance, preparation. peculiar characteristics, habitat, and abundance, together with possible photographs of the same should be on hand. PROVINCIAL MUSEUMS. Articles in provincial museums may be furnished by: (a) Contributions and purchases from the various municipalities and supervising districts of the division. (b) Outside purchases. (c) Purchases at expositions and displays held by the Bureau of Education. INDUSTRIAL .l!USEUMS 671 In provincial museums there should also be mounted specimens of materials found in the division, and the necessary data pertaining thereto. The General Office proposes to furnish each division with herbarium folders containing specimens of and materials from the chief Philippine fiber plants. THE GENERAL .MUSEUM OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION. This museum will be supplied by articles purchased from provinces or elsewhere for use as models and ideas. Such articles will be purchased from the standpoint of utility, workmanship, design, shape, and local and export commercial possibilities. In the purchase of all articles the utmost discretion should be exercised by teachers, industrial supervisors, and superintendents in order that only those articles may be procured and included in district and provincial museums which conform to the best standards and which can be advantageously fabricated from materials growing abundantly in the division. Fancy articles other than those in lace, crochet, and embroidery should not be selected. Only practical and sensible articles should be purchased. It will be noticed that the purpose in view is to form a chain of institutions: The district museums to display local products; the provincial museums to show provincial products and models from outside sources; and the general museum to be composed of exhibits obtained from the different provincial museums and elsewhere. The growth of these institutions should ultimately convert them into museums wherein all products, natural, agricultural, and manufactured, may be displayed. Such a collection of articles and information should be of immense aid, not only in teaching geography in the grades and in high schools but to the people of the community and to merchants, in indicating the resources of the locality and of the Islands as a whole. The organization of the Bureau of Education permits of the founding and administration of such a chain of museums with a minimum of effort and expen<:e. The beginnings are still small, but the possibilities of expansion are great and the practical note being struck should make them of great value in the material upbuilding of the Islands.

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