14 ACCOUNTS, ETC., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



IX. General Progress at the Museum, Bloomsbury. 



The work o£ the Museum and all statistics connected with it 

 have been fundamentally affected by the decision to which the 

 Government came, early in the year, to close the Museums and 

 public galleries in London generally, in the interests o£ economy. 

 Certain exceptions were made to the original drastic proposal. It 

 was obvious that the service o£ the Library and free access to the 

 Reading Room could not cease without serious injury to public 

 interests, since the Library of the British Museum is the principal 

 national storehouse of knowledge, constantly in request for purposes 

 of business and research of all kinds. It was also found possible to 

 maintain the service of the Manuscript Students' Room, which is 

 essential for the students of history. All the exhibition galleries, 

 however, were closed on March 1st, and the Museum thenceforth 

 ceased its educative and recreative work on behalf of the public 

 generally, as distinct from the students of printed books and of 

 manuscripts. 



Statistics of the number of visitors consequently come to an end 

 automatically after the end of February, up to which time there had 

 been 102,733 visitors, as compared with 121,182 in the corres- 

 ponding months of the previous year. 



Visitors to the several departments were fewer than in the 

 previous year, though the total was considerable. Visits to the 

 Reading Room amounted to 134,501, as compared with 178,410 ; 

 to the Newspaper Room 9,461, as against 12,650 ; and to the other 

 departments (which were naturally affected by the closing of the 

 galleries) 11,124, as against 24,934. 



The staff of the Museum has been very much depleted, only 

 the minimum necessary for the conservation of the collections and 

 the service of the Library being retained. At the end of the year 

 115 members of the staff at Bloomsbury were absent on military 

 service, and 59 from the Natural History Museum. No member of 

 the staff below the age of 26, and fit for general service, remained 

 in the two Museums, and very few below the age of 35. Seven 

 members of the staff have lost their lives in the service of their 

 country ; 20 have been wounded ; two have received the Military 

 Cross, and three the Military Medal. 



Progress with the re-arrangement of the collections has naturally 

 been very slight ; since, in addition to the absence of staff, some 

 materials required for fittings have been practically unobtainable. 



On the closing of the galleries, the opportunity was taken to 

 remove the larger part of the collections from the show-cases, and 

 to store them in places of greater safety Fortunately no injury 

 has been incurred through air attacks. 



