Page:The museum, (Jackson, Marget Talbot, 1917).djvu/70

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50
THE MUSEUM

fire danger as far as possible. If this is done there is no reason why the boilers should not be put in the basement of the museum building, provided space is left above to take care of excessive heat. The electric plant is apt to cause vibration and noise and unless an especially silent set of machinery is installed it is much better to place it outside the walls of the museum. Of course it is always possible to use the current supplied by an outside firm but it is much more expensive than where electricity is generated at the building.

Store rooms of various kinds are needed. A large clear space which need not necessarily be lighted by daylight should be provided for boxes. A loan exhibition comes in, is unpacked and the boxes stored; perhaps fifteen or twenty boxes more come in before that exhibition goes out again. The store room must be so arranged that it will be possible to take out the first set of boxes without interfering with the second. Rooms for the storage of pictures and other art objects should be provided on the gallery floors. A small store room next the Director's office for objects offered for sale is a valuable adjunct and a store room near one of the entrances for objects loaned for special exhibitions by local artists is also a desideratum. These objects which are sent in to be passed upon by a jury should not have to be