Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/531

 47 2 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., i, 1899

recognize the value of general case labels, and these have been provided in nearly all the great museums. In a few museums, notably that of Berlin, the great value and importance of supple- menting the labels by means of charts, diagrams, photographs, and maps have been fully recognized as above pointed out.

In no museum of Europe was there observed any serious at- tempt to reproduce types of the various races of the earth from actual life molds. In London, Paris, Vienna, and Berlin, repre- sentatives of a few of the races have been modeled in plaster from photographs. In the Bremen museum there are also several groups (not cast from life but sculptured from photographic data) which are very effectively mounted, two of the groups being of more than usual merit. Among the many groups at the Crystal Palace, London, are a few that seem unusually good and accurate. Nowhere in Europe have I seen work of this kind which equals that displayed in the museums of America.

In many of the European museums the hours for visitors are quite limited. In nearly all there is no admittance for the public on certain days, while in still other museums only parts of the exhibition halls are open daily, thus necessitating a visit extend- ing over two or more days to examine the entire collection. Only in the Blackmore Museum is the entire collection catalogued, and this catalogue is almost a text-book of archeology, although it now needs revision. Especially to be commended also are the hand- books issued by the British Natural History Museum and the South Kensington Museum. Outside of Zurich and Vienna no catalogue worthy of the name was found among the continen- tal museums. Of far greater importance than the general catalogue are the illustrated guides to special collections.

At several museums inquiry was made regarding methods of accessioning and cataloguing anthropologic collections, but no- where was observed a system which seemed to possess any features that would enhance the value of that employed by the Field Columbian Museum. As this system has never been de-

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