ON NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUMS. 



33 



fall a prey to neglect. Hence, there was little to induce the 

 possessors of valuable objects to give them to the local museum. 

 But all this is now changed. Public opinion to-day recognises 

 that the care of the local museum is as much a part of the duty 

 of the Corporation as the care of the public roads. " The one 

 vital principle which surrounds Corporations," says Mr. Green- 

 wood, " is that they are gifted with perpetual life." 40 Anyone 

 therefore who gives a collection to a municipal museum feels 

 that its care is permanently assured. 



Since the Essex Field Club was founded, a quarter of a 

 century ago, there has been a great advance in the popular 

 appreciation of museums. An important step was taken in 

 1886, when the British Association appointed a committee 

 to report upon the Provincial Museums of this country. The 

 reports of this committee drawn up by the late Mr. F. J. Mott 

 as Secretary, form a valuable repertory of information. 



But a far more important step was taken by the formation, 

 in 1889, of the Museums Association. Then, for the first time, 

 the Curators throughout the country became organised. At the 

 annual meetings of this Association the Curators and others 

 interested in museums meet in conference, so that all matters of 

 museum economy can be fully discussed by experts. 

 Those who wish to know something about modern museums 

 will find information of the most valuable character in the 

 Annual Reports and in The Museums Journal, which is the 

 organ of the association. Here the reader is made acquainted 

 with the most recent methods of museum work, and will thus 

 realise the admirable manner in which most of our provincial 

 museums are becoming organised. 



As an example of a museum which in spite of very restricted 

 space, and with only moderate resources, may yet profit by the 

 modern system of museum technique, we may point with some 

 pride to our own museum at Stratford. Let it ever be remembered, 

 however, that the maintenance of a museum, worthy of the 

 present day, involves an immense amount of labour. It was a 

 remark of the late Sir William Flower, that " a museum is like 

 a living organism — it requires continual and tender care. It 

 must grow or it will perish. " i7 No words could be more just. 

 However carefully a collection may be arranged, it will, if left to 



46 Museums and Art Galleries. By Thomas Greenwood, London iS3S c 



47 JUssays on Museums p. 13. 



