Page:The museum, (Jackson, Marget Talbot, 1917).djvu/25

Rh may be compared with some interest with the comparatively small number of those who visit the South Kensington Museum, which containing, as it does, collections of decorative arts, should have an equal popular appeal with the archaeological and scientific material in the British Museum. This is just a case to illustrate the point. The people will go to the museum that they can reach with the least effort, irrespective of what it contains. From all these examples it will be seen that the ideal situation for a museum building is in a central location one block away from street-car lines and several blocks removed from the railroad. A strong argument in favor of centralization of museums has been presented by J. C. Dana in his article on the Gloom of Museums in the Newarker for October, 1913, page 396.

Another important consideration is the cost of the land. If the museum is to be in the heart of the city the site will cost more in proportion to its size. With the rapid development of our American cities it is quite impossible for any one to forecast the direction of the growth, but care should be taken to choose a site which in all probability will not decrease in value, as circumstances might arise which would make it necessary for the museum to move and for this reason to desire to sell its former site.