BRITISH MUSEUM. 



GENERAL PROGRESS AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM, 

 BLOOMSBURY. 



The attendances of visitors at the British Museum continued to show 

 increases. In part this may have been due to the exceptional attraction 

 of the exhibition of antiquities from Ur in the summer months, and to 

 the extension of hours of Sunday opening in the autumn. On the other 

 hand, the fine weather during the holiday season probably tended to 

 divert visitors elsewhere. The total number was 1,181,617, as compared 

 with 1,154,566 in 1927, thus beating even the record of the Wembley 

 Exhibition year and, a fortiori, of any other year since 1851. 



In the Departments the increase was also marked, especially in the 

 case of the Reading Room. This, however, is largely due to a reform 

 in the numeration of visitors. It was a matter of practical experience 

 that the congestion in the Room was often as great as in the period before 

 the war, although the recorded figures were much lower. An investiga- 

 tion showed that the record was inexact ; and as the result the total 

 rose from 182,214 to 215,449, a figure of the same order of magnitude 

 as during the pre-war period, though still falling short of the 243,659 

 of 1913. This gives an average of 711 readers daily. The number of 

 volumes supplied to readers in the Reading Room and North Library 

 (exclusive of those to which readers have access on the open shelves and 

 the periodicals in the North Library) was 1,505,761. 



The number of visits to the Newspaper Room and Hendon Repository 

 was 17,784, as against 17,396 in 1927, and 17,938 in 1913. To the 

 Students' Rooms of the other Departments the visits amounted to 

 43,657, as against 38,925 in 1927 and 37,788 in 1913. An increase is 

 showTi in every case except the Medal Room, and most noticeably in 

 the Department of Prints and Drawings, where the numbers rose from 

 9,266 to 11,551. 



The lectures of the Official Guide Lecturers were attended by 34,471 

 persons. It will be understood, however, that the figures for this service 

 can only be approximate, as exact numeration of those who listen to 

 peripatetic lectures is impossible. 



The demand for photography continues to increase, and both the 

 official staff and outside photographers have been fully employed. The 

 number of printed books and manuscripts supplied to the photographic 

 studio was 6,191, besides 2,002 prints and drawings and at least 1,731 

 antiquities. An addition to the accommodation for photography 

 (including photostat work) will evidently be necessary in the near future. 

 The staff has already been increased by the addition of a Learner, the 

 cost being far more than covered by the receipts from the sale of photo- 



It is hoped also to develope the sale of electrotypes and plaster casts. 

 Some of the gold vessels from Ur lend themselves admirably to effective 

 reproduction. 



The principal temporary exhibition in the course of the year was that 

 of the objects discovered by Mr. WooUey's expedition in the royal tombs 

 of Ur. The wealth of objects in gold, silver, and copper, the personal 

 ornaments of Queen Shubad and her attendants, the wonderful mosaics 

 of scenes of Sumerian life in the fourth millennium B.C., the skilfully 

 restored harps and chariots, and the evidences of extensive human 



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