Excerpt from Classification and Arrangement of the Exhibits of an Anthropological Museum Classification. Of culture materials. - But what shall we attemp. To Show in the culture division of our anthropological museum, and how shall we classify and place our collections? Classification is the first essential. If we look at the world and its inhabitants from a suffi ciently distant point of view, a few of the greater groups of facts attract the eye. First, we observe that men are of several distinct races and varieties; but a closer look demonstrates that these are not separated one from another, but are intermingled in such ways as to afford no basis save the most general for a grouping of their culture products. Second, we observe that nearly all peoples are separated into social and political groups - into clans, tribes, and nations - cecu pying distinct areas of the habitable globe. Looking closer at these, one sees that they are not all alike; that the widest possible differences in condition and culture status exist. Some of the groups are savages almost without art and without any evidences of higher culture; some are more advanced, occupying the barbarian grade, while still others are highly cultured and surrounded by a thousand evidences of enlight enment and luxury. Shall we then classify and display our museum exhibits on the basis of this grouping of the peoples into tribes and nations? Let us see what would be the result. The British Empire is possessed of commanding power and boundless territory, but its cul ture materials would comprise every variety of product under the sun, from the lowest to the highest, and from every known region of the globe. The same is true of nearly all of the civilized nations. It is evident, therefore, that units of this class are too large and too com plex to be of use in classification. Besides, civilized nations may well be expected each to have and maintain its own national museum. Let us take another illustration. Suppose that we decide to arrange our collections by the inferior social or political units - as by states or tribes. Investigation shows that these units are too small; that we should have thousands of exhibition units - too many entirely for practical purposes.of grouping and installation. Besides, some are artificial divisions, and some are natural divisions, and the classification would be mixed and wholly unsatisfactory. What is wanted is a simple, natural grouping of the very diversified ethnic phenomena. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.