relative efficiency. It is also hoped that the publication of such information may stimulate the development of museums by showing what is already being done.

The scope of the directory was finally determined after receiving suggestions from the council of the Association and others, and a form for the return of information was prepared. The mailing of these forms was begun in February, 1909. Since that time information has been gathered as rapidly as the time and funds available would permit. All manuscript has been prepared since February 1, 1910, and the account of each museum has been submitted for revision, except in a few cases during the course of publication. It was originally planned to issue the directory in May, 1910, but delay in securing returns from many museums necessitated postponement, seven or eight communications being necessary in a number of cases.

An effort has been made to include the museums of both North and South America, but the time consumed in the mails to South America has made it impossible to obtain satisfactory results in this part of the work. Such information, however, as has been obtained is printed, with the names of other museums secured from various sources. As the work progressed it became evident that no line of demarcation could be drawn between active museums and collections hardly worthy of the name, and it was decided to include all except private museums not open to the public. No effort has been made to compile data regarding medical or other special museums, but accounts of some of these have been received and printed.

The mailing list was originally compiled from a number of publications covering a part of the field of the directory. This list has been extended by suggestions from the institutions to which manuscript has been sent. For this purpose a list of the museums in each state or province was included with nearly all manuscript submitted for approval, with a request that it be verified and extended if necessary. Among previous publications that of Merrill is worthy of special mention. This contains accounts of scientific museums similar in many respects to those of the present work, the chief addition in the latter being administrative information intended to indicate the organization and importance of the museums described. In a number of cases where we have been unable to obtain satisfactory information the account is based upon Merrill, due credit being given in each instance. In other cases where a similarity of accounts

1 Natural History Museums of the United States and Canada, Bull. N. Y. State Mus., 62, 1903.

may be noted it is apparently due to the use of the same catalogs or other printed matter as sources of information.

In relation to historical museums much help has been derived from a report on state and local historical societies1 compiled for the American Historical Association by a committee consisting of Reuben G. Thwaites, chairman, Benjamin F. Shambaugh, and Franklin L. Riley. References to Thwaites in the text refer to this work. Other sources of information include the "Handbook of Learned Societies" issued by the Carnegie Institution, the census reports, and "Minerva." The last has been consulted chiefly in regard to South American museums which have not otherwise been heard from. The census reports have been drawn upon for accounts of the smaller zoological parks, which it was decided to include only when the work was about to go to press.

In comparing our returns with those of Merrill and Thwaites it is of interest to note that a considerable number of museums, often with the same curator, now report much smaller collections, or even "no museum." This is probably not to be interpreted as an actual decrease of material, but rather as an indication of estimates made in absence of records, either in both cases or in the earlier only. When "no museum" is reported it often indicates an indefinite conception of what a museum is.

The final results fail in many respects to come up to the standard which it was hoped to maintain, and the work is submitted with a full realization of its incompleteness, but with the hope that it may prove of value in promoting the objects for which it was undertaken. It is intended that it may also serve as the basis of further studies in the organization and work of American museums which may be published in the Proceedings of the American Association of Museums. To this end, all museums are urgently requested to place the secretary of the Association on their mailing lists for all publications descriptive of their work. Communications should be addressed. to Paul M. Rea, Secretary, American Association of Museums, Charleston, S. C.

1 Report of Committee on Methods of Organization and Work on the Part of State and Local Societies. Ann. Rep. Am. Hist. Assoc., I, 1905, 249-325.