THE GERMANIC MUSEUM.

The Germanic Museum Association, which was formed last spring, has issued a pamphlet declaring the object and plans of the association. The museum will illustrate, through objects of art and industry, the history of civilization among the Germanic peoples, primarily in Germany, but also in Scandinavia, Denmark, the Low Countries, German Austria, the German Cantons of Switzerland, and the England of the Anglo-Saxon period.

It is thought that an American Germanic Museum will interest three classes of people. Americans of German, Scandinavian, or Dutch descent; Americans, regardless of descent, whose intellectual life has been influenced by German ideals; and Germans and their kindred in Europe. With this interest assured, it is hoped that the Germanic Museum of Cambridge will become the centre of Germanic historical interest in America.

The scheme of the Museum is similar to that of several European museums among which are the Germanic Museum at Nuremburg, the Swiss Museum at Zurich, the Norse Museum at Copenhagen, and the Hotel de Cluny at Paris. "Models and reproductions (either plastic or photographic) of typical work illustrating Germanic life and character from the earliest times to the present day will naturally be the first acquisitions. From the beginning, however, it is proposed to secure originals also; weapons and costumes, implements and utensils, engravings, books, paintings, sculptures, and carvings of real value, artistically and historically."

The association addresses itself to all those who are interested in German culture, "in the hope that many persons may be found who will desire to join the association, and give moral and financial assistance to an undertaking remarkable for its international as well as national significance."

The Corporation of Harvard has agreed to set aside and prepare for the reception of gifts, the Rogers Building, formerly used as the gymnasium and later by the Engineering Department. All the engineering apparatus has now been transferred to the laboratory in Pierce Hall. The foundations of several large engines, which have taken up all the space beneath the flooring, are being torn up and the space thus obtained will be used for a storage place for extra collections.

The building at present contains three stories, each divided into several small rooms. The partitions on the first two floors are being torn down so as to form two large circular halls. The second story contains very few windows and is too dimly lighted to serve as an exhibition room. In order to remedy this defect it has been decided to take up the entire third floor and to put sky lights in the roof of the building.

In addition to these changes there is considerable painting and carpenter work to be done before the hall can be used for exhibition purposes. These changes will be finished about the middle of February, but the Museum will probably not be opened to the public until next fall.

Through Theodore von Holleben, German Ambassador to the United States, upon whom Harvard conferred the degree of LL.D. last June, the German Emperor has expressed to the Association his hearty approval of the plan by announcing that he is gathering for the Museum a collection of models of ancient, mediaeval, and modern artistic subjects, statues, carvings and monumentals illustrating the beginning and progress of German civilization to the present date. Professor Kuno Francke of the German department is now in Europe as the agent of the Museum. Professor Francke will devote a year to lecturing in Germany and Switzerland in order to arouse interest in the project and to purchasing objects for the Museum. Besides the objects from abroad, the Association hopes to exhibit from time to time many valuable German engravings that are now kept in the Fogg Museum.

In the organization of the Germanic Museum Association, special effort was made to have all sections of this country as well as the more prominent cities of Germany represented.