LENDING PICTURES

Several years ago the Fogg Museum inaugurated a plan for loaning prints to undergraduates for their personal use during the college year. The opinion was that a certain number of students would avail themselves of the obvious opportunity for a more intimate acquaintance with artistic objects. From the point of view of the Museum, the project offered a practical experience in education which would not easily be gained in any other way.

For some reason this excellent plan was allowed to lapse. Possibly the immediate response from the students was not encouraging enough to justify the trouble and risk involved. It should be remembered, however, that such a project naturally develops slowly. It would be worth while to persist over a period of years if a fairly large response was obtained.

It is especially desirable that the plan now be revived for the Houses have placed undergraduates in a new environment which stimulates their readiness to respond to such an opportunity. The Museum itself would be able to loan prints with more confidence, since they would be safer in the Houses than on the walls of chance rooming-establishments. The probability is that anyone interested enough to borrow from the museum would have sufficient responsibility to take care of the object loaned. If necessary, a small deposit against damage or loss might be given. The recompense both for the Museum and the College, would be well worth the trouble involved.