The Germanic Museum, as the College has always known it, was founded in the good old tradition of those earliest museums of all, magpies nests, where anything was grist to the curator's, mill. But now, under the leadership of Dr. Kuhn, it has weighed its collection in the balance with the idea of exhibiting only what has educational value and leads to an appreciation of German art. Certain isolated plaster-casts have had to go because they were inadequate substitutes for the originals, while countless photographs have been relegated to steel files, where those who must can use them. There used to be practically no original pieces. Now the side halls, cleared and freshened with new paint and lighting, house a small but significant group of contemporary textiles, glassware, and silverwork.

The curator's plan is to create a modest permanent collection as the nucleus around which loan exhibitions of worthwhile German originals can from time to time be grouped. As silver sparkles and bright paint shines, the museum takes on fresh interest. Some will decry this rejuvenation of the Fogg's "poor step-sister" as a concession to casual taste; but in an age when so many interests compete for attention, it appears a legitimate way of making Mr. Busch's gift a going concern.