Page:The museum, (Jackson, Marget Talbot, 1917).djvu/228

198, there is a small number of applications from persons seeking employment, and there is an enormous amount of detail in arranging for any exhibition of the work of a group of artists which requires much correspondence with the painter, the owner of the picture, the insurance agent, etc. If there is a school connected with the museum, the requests for catalogues and advice are without end. But by far the most difficult to answer and the most important part of the museum correspondence comes from the groups of individuals or clubs which are seeking for help in an effort to attain culture through the study of art. To know just how to treat a tender young plant of this kind, to nourish it and strengthen it and train it into useful paths is one of the most important duties of a museum director. The slightest interest in any field of art if properly fostered may bear wonderful results.

The staff of a small museum must necessarily vary with the needs of the collection, but as long as there is an increasing collection, there should be some one besides the director with a technical knowledge of museum subjects. There should be more than one mind represented in the pages of the museum bulletin, and there should be more than one personality to attract people. It is very advisable that the director should have an able