Abstract
WE dealt last week with the position of the Natural History Museum at South Kensington in relation to the Trustees of the British Museum at Bloomsbury, of which it is a branch. There are eventually to be three museums at South Kensington, and it seems to be desirable that these should be under a single authority interested in the advancement of natural knowledge and its utilisation for the good of the nation. The Interim Report of the Royal Commission on National Museums and Galleries leaves open the whole question of the governance of the national collections, both of museums and of public galleries. The internal control of such institutions and their staffs by directors is clearly a desirable arrangement, but their interrelationships, policy, and development are as certainly matters of public concern. The director is responsible to a Minister, where national funds are concerned, but there is usually some body between, either in a governing or in an advisory capacity. The collections include countless gifts and bequests to the nation, and the nation is the trustee for these. Each gift entails annual expenditure, be it book, picture, machine, or animal, and staffs have to be maintained to care for them, and to see that they are available for the study of experts and for the education and intellectual amusements of the public. Catalogues have to be printed, and special exhibitions arranged, and these do not usually pay for themselves. In addition, certain institutions are so clearly connected with industry and commerce, on which the country and empire so closely live, that annual expenditure is requisite for additions and for the study of these.
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The National Museums at South Kensington. Nature 123, 437–439 (1929). https://doi.org/10.1038/123437a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/123437a0