The last function, that of inspiring the layman with an interest in the subject-matter of the museum, demands adherence to two leading principles. First, only a few specimens should be shown, and those the best obtainable. Secondly, the arrangement of the objects must both arrest attention and give pleasure, so that the visit may be repeated. Here, then, we speak not so much of 'collection and exhibition' as of 'selection and display.' In these two respects, as well as in minor details, such as the nature of the labels, the spaciousness of the rooms and the absence of any need for handling, the requirements of the lay public are, if not always opposed to, at least different from, those of either investigators or students.
Thus far then, we are, I trust, agreed not only that museums have three distinct classes of visitors, but that the proper methods of fulfilling those functions are likewise distinct. Possibly these considerations may help the curator to find an answer, when he asks the question: 'What exactly is the object of my museum and how nearly do I attain it?'
The curator, however, may fear that, since museums are so various, and the activities even of a single museum so numerous and diverse, therefore the question can only admit of a confused and futile answer. This complexity may be partly disentangled if he realizes that museums may be classified in various ways. For instance, according to their subject-matter, as of geology, fine-art, archeology, sanitation and the rest. So far as this is concerned the answer to the question is in each case obvious and needs no discussion here.
Another point of view is that of their financial relations to the community. A museum may be under national, provincial or municipal control; it may be run by some semi-public body,—a university, a local society, or a trade guild; it may be a purely private concern—the secluded treasure of a dilettante, the money-making show of a company, or the freely open halls of a philanthropist. This classification indicates the class of visitor for whom the museum is intended: the guild museum for the members of a trade, the university museum for the university student, and the state museum for 'all sorts and conditions of men.' But the connection is not inevitable.
Omitting other possible classifications, we find that the only one bearing on the curator's problem is that according to the visitors either actual or desired. In its main lines this follows our classification of the functions of a museum under three heads. Few museums, however, have their scope so rigorously defined, though in some cases, as just suggested, it is, or should be, defined by circumstances.
Perhaps the most usual restriction is to that group of functions above comprehended under instruction. Here and here alone come the teaching collections of a university, the technological museum for artisans.
