The Emergence of the Modern Museum An Anthology of Nineteenth-Century Sources

by Siegel, Jonah

• ISBN13: 9780195331134
• ISBN10: 0195331133
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-03-13
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

What should a museum contain or exclude? Who does a museum hope to attract? What, in fact, is the purpose of a museum? The change from private collection to public museum is a crucial cultural development of the nineteenth century, but one that is bound to raise fundamental questions. The Emergence of the Modern Museum , a unique compendium of original sources, presents a detailed and dynamic account of the development of the institution and its practices during that critical period of inception. From poignant recollections of visits to stately homes to charged debates about the acquisition of the Elgin Marbles or the establishment of an Indian Museum; from early catalogue entries describing the curiosities discovered by Captain Cook to later ones organizing human skulls according to Darwinian principles--this volume offers a representative sample of the diverse, contentious, and often moving ideas that have shaped the public museum from its earliest history. The Emergence of the Modern Museum makes available a wide range of material, including proposals for reform laid out in parliamentary papers, essays by influential theorists and curators, and accounts of the experience of museum-going in the popular press. With its original selections, thematic organization, and careful apparatus, this collection makes newly-accessible the cultural moment that defined the complex institution we know today.

Author Biography

Jonah Siegel is Professor of English, Rutgers University

Table of Contents

Chronology	p. xvii
Introduction	p. 3
From Collection To Museum
Private Collections	p. 13
A Companion to Mr. Bullock's Museum (1810)	p. 15
Treasures of Art in Great Britain (1838/1854)	p. 26
Collecting in England	p. 26
Blenheim Palace	p. 30
Sir John Soane's Museum	p. 32
Panshanger, Seat of Earl Cowper	p. 33
Sketches of the Principal Picture-Galleries in England (1824)	p. 34
Mr. Angerstein's Collection	p. 34
Toward a Public Art Collection	p. 37
Report from the Select Committee of the House of Commons on the Earl of Elgin's Collection (1816)	p. 39
Parliamentary Debate on Purchasing the Elgin Marbles (1816)	p. 50
Parliamentary Debate on Building the National Gallery (April 1832)	p. 60
Parliamentary Debate on Building the National Gallery (July 1832)	p. 62
The British Museum (1836)	p. 64
The National Gallery (1842)	p. 72
The Public in the Museum	p. 79
The British Museum (1832)	p. 82
Report of the Select Committee on Arts and Their Connexion with Manufactures (1836)	p. 85
Report of the Select Committee on National Monuments and Works of Art (1841)	p. 90
Report of the Select Committee on the National Gallery (1850)	p. 124
The Boy Who Breathed on the Glass in the British Museum (1916)	p. 133
Rationalizing The National Collections
Art and the National Gallery	p. 137
Testimony Before the Select Committee on the National Gallery (1853)	p. 141
Testimony Before the National Gallery Site Commission (1857)	p. 160
Thoughts on the New Building to Be Erected for the National Gallery of England (1853)	p. 200
Natural History and the British Museum	p. 213
The British Museum (1847)	p. 214
The British Museum (1858)	p. 220
The British Museum. Committee Moved For (1859)	p. 226
On the Extent and Aims of a National Museum of Natural History (1862)	p. 231
Topographical Description of the Museum and Its Contents, British Museum (Natural History) (1893)	p. 239
Pedagogy: South Kensington and the Provinces	p. 244
Extracts from an Introductory Address on the Functions of the Science and Art Department (1857)	p. 245
The South Kensington Museum (1859)	p. 247
Provincial Museums (1866)	p. 259
Report on the System of Circulation of Art Objects on Loan from the South Kensington Museum (1881)	p. 263
Reform and the Psychology of Museum Attendance	p. 277
On the Present State of Modern Art, with Reference to the Advisable Arrangement of a National Gallery (1867)	p. 278
The Use and Abuse of Museums (1883)	p. 283
From Wonders to Signs: Anthropology and Archeology	p. 300
The Modern Museum (1904)	p. 301
The Ashmolean Museum: Present State and Prospects (1870)	p. 304
Catalogue of the Anthropological Collection Lent by Colonel Lane for Exhibition in the Bethnal Green Museum (1874)	p. 308
Exhibiting India	p. 314
The India Museum, Whitehall (1861)	p. 315
On the Measures Required for the Efficient Working of the India Museum and Library (1874)	p. 318
The Future Treatment of the Indian Collection at the Old South Kensington Museum (1909)	p. 331
Glossary of Frequently Cited Collectors and Collections	p. 341
Authors and Speakers	p. 345
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 355
Index	p. 361
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