Models of bridges and other engineering projects and designs; models of building construction; specimens of carving and modeling in clay; samples of the productions of machine-shops connected with technical schools; apparatus of any description made by students.

Map-drawing, from memory and from copy, with and without printed skeleton; paper of the size of the leaf of the ordinary quarto schoolatlas; written exercises, comprising English compositions, themes and translations in different languages; exercises in the various elementary branches; exercises in the higher studies, literary, scientific, æsthetic, professional, and technological; specimens of graduating dissertations, orations, and theses.

Written exercises should, as a rule, especially those of an elementary character, be of the regular letter-sheet size, with margin for binding, unruled, ruled by hand, or machine-ruled. They should be neatly and plainly bound in muslin, in volumes of moderate thickness.

As it is desirable to encourage girls' handi-work in school, it is hoped that specimens of both plain and ornamental will be contributed. The smaller articles may be conveniently arranged for exhibition in large portfolios with card-board- leaves. Larger ones may be placed in vertical or horizontal show-cases. If girls have learned, in school, to cut and make their own dresses, samples should be sent.

It is suggested that exercises prepared especially for the exhibition be commenced simultaneously on the 1st of February, 1876.

INSTITUTIONS FOR SUPERIOR AND PROFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION.

So far as applicable, it is desirable that the foregoing suggestions be regarded.

The following additional suggestions are recommended to the authorities of universities and colleges:

DIAGRAMS AND MAPS OF BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS.

The managers of such institutions should present a map of the ground, showing location of buildings, as already located and erected, together with the site, in dotted outline, of those that are to be built according the exist ing plans. It is estimated that a scale of 1 foot to 1,320 feet, or a quarter of a mile to a foot, would be sufficient for this purpose. The map should include only the college- or university-grounds proper, and not any farming or other lands that may be owned. An exception to this, however, should be made in the case of agricultural colleges, where experimental farms and premises used for practical instructions should be given in detail, while whatever features are incident to this purpose might be fully represented. Where disconnected grounds are occupied by these institutions, separate maps of each might be given, and in some cases a small outline-map of the city or town, showing relative location and distances.

Ground-plans of college-buildings, showing internal arrangements of different parts, would be very desirable. A scale of 1 foot to 270, or about 22 feet to the inch, is thought most convenient for this purpose, and there may be as many of these as are thought necessary for representing the essential features. A marginal table of reference would explain the uses of the various apartments.

PHOTOGRAPHIC VIEWS.

Photographic or other views of buildings, in number sufficient to represent the extent, style of architecture, and appearance, would be very important. They should not be larger than that known to photographers as the 4-4 size, (63 by 8 inches,) and might be in sufficient num. ber to fully present the important buildings of the institutions.

SPECIAL HISTORIES.

The present is thought to be a most favorable opportunity for the preparation of special histories of colleges and universities. If prepared, their extent, plan, scope, and mode of illustration would depend upon the judgment of their authors, and would, it is believed, tend greatly to advance the interest felt in these institutions, by making them more fully known.

PORTRAITS OF EDUCATORS.

A series of portraits of presidents of colleges and of faculties and distinguished founders, benefactors, and friends, as well past as present, would be highly desirable.

CATALOGUES.

Series of college catalogues and of other publications would be of great importance, and, if furnished, should be substantially bound and placed under such regulations as might render them convenient for reference. In each of the foregoing objects, its execution must depend upon the interest felt in the subject by the institutions themselves, as no appropriations have been made for these objects, nor can payment be promised. Means will, however, be found, consistent with good taste, under such general regulations as may be adopted by the Centennial Commission, for making known to those desirous of procuring copies the persons from whom or places at which they may be procured.

It is furthermore confidently hoped that the importance of having a permanent collection of these objects at a central repository will be felt by those who may furnish them, and that they will allow one copy of each to remain permanently in the care of the Bureau of Education at Washington, where they will be carefully kept for public reference and use, under such regulations as may tend to prevent injury or loss.

CONCISE HISTORIES OF INSTITUTIONS.

Finally, and as deemed most important of all, because it will be altogether the most lasting and valuable, will be a concise history of each institution embraced in the plan. This will be included in the official pub lications of the Government, and will find its way into the principal public libraries in this and other countries, within reach of any person who may now or hereafter have occasion to refer to the information therein contained.

Full credit of authorship will be given to these several summaries, and such generalizations, statistical results, and illustration by maps and diagrams will be made as the subject will admit. It is highly desirable that engravings of plans and views of buildings and grounds should accompany these condensed histories, but this, if done, must be at the expense of the institutions. The engravings, or an electrotype copy, will, however, be returned to those procuring them with a view to their use in catalogues and other publications for which there may be occasion in the future. These should be of the octavo size, and advice will be more fully given concerning them at an early day.

A limit to these summary histories will be stated after some preliminary inquiries shall have been completed; and every effort will be made to secure a perfectly fair and impartial opportunity to each institution, without prejudice or preference.

In the arrangement of these summary histories, and in the deductions and generalizations that may be drawn from them, the subject will be distinctly and prominently presented by States, preceded by a general statement of the policy and plan that have been pursued in each for the encouragement and regulation of its higher seminaries of learning. A general summary of general results will also be prepared.

As to the subject-matter of these summaries, they should show the general facts:

(1) Name of the college or university, and its origin and changes, with the reasons therefor.

(2) Date of organization and incorporation; denominational or other control.

(3) Location, and the reasons that determined it.

(4) Brief notices of founders and patrons.

(5) Description of buildings; extent of college grounds and of other lands and estates.

(6) General or special objects and original plan of organization, with its subsequent modifications and present status.

(7) Preliminaries of organization and brief notice of academic or other institutions from which it may have sprung, with dates of their establishment, their changes, &c.

(8) Summar" of special legislation relating to the institution, and

of the decisions of courts affecting property or rights, with references to documentary and other authorities, in which these can be studied in detail.

(9) Relation to or dependence upon State governments, and patronage or grants from State or General Government, with dates, amounts received, or other information concerning them.

(10) Extent and history of local, denominational, or other endowments; their income, investment, and limitations. These may often be most concisely stated in tabular forms.

(11) Number of trustees, visitors, or other controlling officers; their mode of election and tenure or term.

(12) Organization of the faculty, their mode of election, tenure, powers, &c.

(13) Course and plan of study, with important changes from time to time. Methods of instruction.

(14) Departments of professional or special study, with historical statement of formation and changes.

(15) Libraries, cabinets, laboratories, observatories, apparatus, artgalleries, gymnasiums, and other accessories.

(16) College societies, with facts and statistics, dates of formation, discontinuance, consolidations, and changes. These may often be concisely presented in tabular form.

(17) Financial statements; expenses to students; scholarships; prizes, &c.

(18) Lists of graduates, which will be sufficiently presented in copies of the last general catalogue with supplement added.

(19) Such statements as facts may justify in relation to the work accomplished by the institution, of course avoiding invidious comparisons with other institutions.

INSTRUCTION FOR THE BLIND, DEAF-MUTE, ETC.

Schools for the blind, deaf-mute, &c., are requested to exhibit the peculiar features of their instruction, such as—

For the instruction of the blind: Specimens of printing, with the presses by which they were executed; samples of the literature printed; contrivances for aiding in writing, in teaching numbers and geogra phy.

For the deaf and dumb: Graphic illustrations of the mechanism of speech as applied to articulation and lip-reading, and of the application of visible speech to articulation; practicing-mirrors, and books for teaching reading.

For the feeble-minded: Apparatus for physical development and illustrative teaching in the different stages of progress.

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CONCLUSION.

Any communications with reference to the educational exhibit at the International Centennial Exhibition will receive prompt attention on their transmission to the Commissioner of Education at Washington. Committee on behalf of the National Educational Association:

JOHN EATON,

United States Commissioner of Education.
JOHN D. PHILBRICK,

Ex-Superintendent of Boston Public Schools.
J. P. WICKERSHAM,

State-Superintendent of Public Instruction, Pennsylvania.
W. H. RUFFNER,

State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Virginia.
ALONZO ABERNETHY,

State-Superintendent of Public Instruction, Iowa.

APPROVAL OF THE FOREGOING PLAN BY THE DIRECTORGENERAL.

I take pleasure in approving the plan adopted in this circular, and shall be glad to render any assistance I am able to in its distribution. A. T. GOSHORN,

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Director-General.