ABSTRACT
The major art museums that arose about 1870 were founded primarily as educational institutions; the movement towards emphasizing aesthetic experiences instead of education as the major public goal for museums, primarily promoted by art museum directors and their boards, came somewhat later. Other categories of museums, science centers, history museums, children's museums, and the wide range of museum-like institutions that display aspects of the world's flora and fauna, have generally embraced an educational purpose as their central public activity in addition to assuming responsibilities associated with collection and preservation. An interesting example of the possible tensions between progressive education and the more traditional educational goals of museums is offered by the Metropolitan Museum's lecture and exhibition program for workers of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU). Professor John Dewey links the work of the Albert Barnes Foundation to the theme of democratic education: the opportunity for ordinary people to learn how to appreciate aesthetic experiences.
