Slater--excluding, of course, the building itself--was exactly
$27,112.97. Is there any city or college in the Union in which this sum
could not be raised for a similar purpose?
The cost of the building we do not give, because it would be useful as
showing how much, rather than how little, could be put into such an
edifice. It contains, besides the museum proper, the floor-space of
which amounts to about 10,000 square feet, a lecture-hall with a
seating-capacity of about 1,200, a library and four large class-rooms,
which, if the intentions of the founder are fully carried out, will be
used for practical instruction in the fine arts. Desirable as all these
rooms are in a building of the kind, the only one which seems to us
absolutely necessary is the lecture-hall. To open a gallery like this to
the public, and then leave people to float about in it aimlessly,
without a notion of its meaning or its purposes, is to do but half the
work. Either regular courses of instruction or occasional lectures upon
topics connected with the theory or history of art are necessary in
order to make the Museum anything more than a collection of curiosities
to the uninitiated, and such lectures are given during the winter at the
Slater Museum.
Of the amount just quoted, the principal item was naturally for casts.
The cost of these, including packing and transportation, but not
setting-up in the Museum, was $13,968.
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