About the Museum
The Nature of Museum (Alexander G. Ruthven, 1931):
"The one common attribute of museums is that they preserve objects of some kind
for study or demonstration, or both. In this characteristic they are closely akin
to libraries. They differ from libraries, however, not alone in the materials preserved,
but to some degree, also, in the fact that a large part
of the collections cannot be replaced.
In objectives, museums in general foster instruction and investigation and thus
are allied, on the on hand, wih establishments for pure research and, on the ohter with the schols and colleges.
They differ from the latter by the general limitation of their activities to those fields of knowledge
the cultivation of which requires series of specimens permanently preserved for
investigation, and by emphasizing visual instruction as a method of diffusing knowledge.
It is, therefore, quite proper to define the museum in broad terms as an institution
preserving collections of objects and data and encouraging and facilitating the use of
these materials for research and instruction."
Objectives of UMMZ
History of UMMZ