ON MUSEUMS IN RELATION TO EDUCATION. 277 



Large Museums will requira two or more members of staff, each of whom 

 should have extended his general preparatory training by special etudy of those 

 groups with which he is called upon to deal. 



The National Museums have for long specialised the work of their members 

 of staff. They require of them a high standard of attainment. A few of the 

 provincial Museums have secured directors and curators with recognised qualifi- 

 cations in science or in art, but the greater number of curators are either self- 

 trained or have acquired their special knowledge on other than systematic lines 

 of study. Notwithstanding the lack of preliminary systematic training, most 

 curators have acquired qualifications which fit them adequately to perform their 

 present duties. It is evident, however, that future !Muiseum work will be best 

 served if Museum assistants and curators have previously passed through _ a 

 systematic course of instruction in those sciences and arts likely to be needed iu 

 their subsequent work. A sound University training in letters or in science 

 must soon be a sine qua non. It is also desirable that the elements of Museum 

 technique should be taught whenever means can be devised. A reading know- 

 ledge of French and German is almost indispensable. 



It is generally admitted that Museum officials are badlv paid — that is, their 

 stipends are less than similar attainments and powers of mind would earn in 

 other walks of life. Considerable improvement has taken place in this matter 

 during recent years, but adequate progress in this direction ' can onty be 

 effectively made when the curatorship of a Museum is looked upon as an honour- 

 able and desirable profession for men of high intellectual attainments ' (Sir W. H. 

 Flower). 



Some General Conclusions. 



Many of the recommendations of the Committee are embodied in the Report, 

 but there are one or two general questions which may be briefly referred to here. 



1. In the view of the Committee, Museums can and should be developed 

 into centres of research. This may be done partly in co-operation with 

 Universities. ]\Iuch unworked material lies in many Museums, and a wide field 

 of useful research lies open, if suitable facilities for the work are provided. 



2. It would assist research if an official list of the principal content^:! of all 

 provincial Museums could be published by the Board of Education. This list 

 would also doubtless indirectly increase local pride in the collections and so add 

 to the steps taken to secure safe custody. 



3. All Museums suffer greatly from want of funds. If educational work 

 and research are to be developed, grants-in-aid on a liberal scale are absolutely 

 essential. There is some fear that Museum funds may be seriously diverted from 

 what all authorities agree to be their first aim— viz.. the advance nf knowledge, 

 for the more popular ventures in connection with the schools. Research must 

 be regarded as the first function, at any rate, of all the great-er Museums. Some 

 principle of grading of Museums for purposes of grant might be adopted, based 

 upon the work they are doinor or planning. 



4. Curatorial functions demand a high degree of special knowledge and 

 training. The Universities and the National Museums have a duty to the nation 

 in this respect. 



.S. In reference to the work Museums may do for schools, the Committee 

 believes that tho system of pnerial circulating loan collections for schools, so 

 highlv elaborated in the United States, deserves wider extension in this countrv : 

 and it recommends that, to pav for the necessary material and the snecial staff 

 required, annropriations should be made from tho Education grant to those 

 Museums which are prepared to carry out the system. 



APPENDIX T. 



Suh -Commit tee's lieport upon Ooerseas Museums. 



(a) Australia. — The Committee's delegates visited the Australian Museums at 



Perth, Adelaide. Melbourne. Sydney, and Brisbane, and found that the general 



work of each was carried out on similar lines to that in British Museurns. The 



fundamental purpose of Museums is well maintained, all material bearing upoix 



