10 



Wathen, the Shareholders of the Museum and Library Associ- 

 ation, and others acting with them in the transfer of- the 

 Museum and Library to the City, a very handsome Bronze 

 Tablet was, on October 30th in the present year, unveiled by 

 the Right Worshipful the Mayor. The Tablet was provided 

 by the subscriptions of Bristol Citizens, and has been fixed in the 

 entrance hall. Your Committee have most thankfully accepted 

 it as an attractive addition to the Museum, and a well-deserved 

 acknowledgment of the great generosity that was shown in 

 the free gift of the entire Institution. 



Your Committee have also great pleasure in appending to 

 this Report an extensive list of the presentations made to the 

 Museum and the Library during the past two years. It will 

 be observed that many of these gifts are of exceptional value; 

 and your Committee have highly appreciated the practical 

 interest the donors have thus shewn in the Institution, and 

 their desire to promote the pleasure and profit of large numbers 

 of the public. 



With regard to the future, your Committee having met 

 out of the proceeds of the half-penny rate the whole of the 

 exceptional expenditure required to reinstate the building, as 

 well as all current expenditure, look forward to being able 

 now to greatly improve the Museum by the gradual intro- 

 duction of modern cases, in which the specimens can be more 

 naturally grouped, with the further advantage of improved 

 light. They also have under consideration the provision of a 

 separate department in which all objects of local interest may 

 be exhibited together. In these and other ways, as indicated 

 in the course of this Report, they hope to still further 

 popularise both the Museum and the Library. 



W. R. BARKER, 



Chairman. 

 The Council House, Bristol, 



18th November 1896. 



