ee avy 
ae pee ae 
THE MUSEUMS. 
The Director of Museums furnishes the Fifty-third Annual 
Report upon the conpucr and procress of the Museums. 
I.—GENERAL. 
Tue Free Pusitic MusEums comprise : — 
(A) the Lorp Drersy Museum, of which the nucleus was the 
collections bequeathed in 1851 to the City, by the Thirteenth Earl of 
Derby. It contains both the Local Area and the Systematic Zoological, 
Geological, Mineralogical, and Botanical Departments, and in 
addition an Aquarium, containing both Fresh and Salt Water 
Animals, Amphibians and Reptiles. 
(B) the Mayer Museum, the larger part of which was collected 
and presented to the Corporation in 1867, by Joseph Mayer, Ksq., 
F.S.A. These collections are specially rich in (a) Egyptian, 
Babylonian, and Assyrian Antiquities ; (b) Medieval European Ivories, 
Bronzes and Illuminated Manuscripts; (c) the unrivalled Brian- 
Faussett Anglo-Saxon Collection ; (d) the Mather Miniatures ; and (e) 
_ the very important Pottery Collections, conspicuously rich in Wedgwood 
and Old Liverpool Wares, arranged now in the section devoted to the 
handiwork of the Caucasian race. Associated with this Museum, as 
belonging to the subjects illustrated by it, though not forming to 
any large extent part of the Mayer Bequest, are (f) the collections 
illustrating the ethnography of the Mongolian and Melanian races. 
The building, in which these collections are housed, was erected 
at the cost of the late Sir William Brown, in October, 1860. 
The Exhibition Galleries are open free to the public, as under: — 
During January, November, and December ... from 10 to 4 
February ia “N es ip ee eee tor eoO 
. March and October... M ea oe eae 9 Me ee 
a April to September... ye hme spa tee G 
Also on Monday Evenings during January to) 
March, and October to December ie a vitae 
