16 ACCOUNTS, ETC., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



VIII. — General Progress at the Museum, Bloomsbury. 



The number of visitors to the Museum during the year 

 1907 was largely affected by the closing of the Reading Room 

 for renovation. The total number of visits amounted to 

 646,300, as against 691,950 in 1906 ; the number of visits on 

 week-days being 582,779, a falling off as compared with 

 634;212 in 1906, but, on the other hand, the Sunday visits 

 rising to 63,521, as against 57,738 in the previous year. 



The Reading Room was closed for repair and renovation 

 from the 15th April to the 31st October. It was therefore 

 accessible to readers for only 139 days in the year. While 

 the room was closed, temporary accommodation was provided 

 in the North Library for about 150 readers daily, on 172 

 days. The total number of visits by readers in the year was 

 137,682, being a daily average of 442, as against a total of 

 212,997, with a daily average of 702, in 1906. 



The number of visits of Students to particular Depart- 

 ments (other than the Reading Room) in 1907 was 55,738, as 

 against 55,513 in 1906. The variations of the numbers in the 

 several Departments were not very great ; rising in some 

 degree in the Newspaper Room and in the Departments of 

 Manuscripts, Prints and Drawings, and British and Mediaeval 

 Antiquities ; and falling in the Departments of Egyptian and 

 Assyrian, and of Greek and Roman, Antiquities, and of 

 Coins and Medals, as well as in the Galleries of Sculpture. 



The first contract for the erection of the British Museum 

 Extension building in Montague Place, on the north side of 

 the Museum, which was entered into in 1906 for the 

 construction of the basement and sub-ground floor, was 

 practically completed at midsummer. On the 27th June, His 

 Majesty the King, accompanied by Her Majesty the Queen, 

 laid the Foundation Stone of the new building, which, with 

 the King's assent, will be named " King Edward the Seventh's 

 Galleries." 



Provision having been made by the First Commissioner of 

 His Majesty's Works for the renovation of the Reading 

 Room, which had not been repainted or redecorated since it 

 was first opened in 1857, the room was closed and placed in 

 the hands of the contractors on the 15th April. It was 

 re-opened to readers on the 1st November. The entire fabric 

 was carefully examined and tested, and, where necessary, 

 repaired. The iron-work, of which the room is largely con- 

 structed, was found to have suffered no deterioration in the 

 lapse of time, and scarcely a rivet had failed. The system of 

 ventilation was thoroughly cleansed and improved in details. 

 New electric wiring was installed. The backs of the book- 

 cases round the room were closed in with sheet -iron ; a slight 

 material, merely to exclude draughts, having originally been 

 employed. The wood-work of the fixed desks and the 

 furniture of the room generally were made good and re- 

 polished. The floor was re-laid with cork-carpeting. The 



