BETTTSH MUSEUM. 



GENERAL PROGRESS AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM, 

 BLOOMSBURY. 



The total number of visitors to the Museum in 1926 showed a falling 

 off from the figures of the two preceding j^ears (the years of the British 

 Empire Exhibition at Wembley), but still remained above the million. 

 The total was 1,037,424, as compared with 1,109,785 in 1925 and 

 947,090 in 1913. 



The variation in the attendance in the Reading Room and Depart- 

 mental Students' Rooms was negligible. The attendances in the Reading 

 Room were 172,466, and in the other Students' Rooms 50,761, showing 

 a slight decline, but were above the figures for 1924, though still 

 much below their highest j^oint, reached in 1913 (243,659 and 55,726). 

 The Newspaper and Map Rooms and the Department of British and 

 Mediaeval Antiquities alone showed an increase. 



The temporary exhibitions during the year included Franciscan 

 MSS., drawings acquired from the Florence Fund, Napoleonic prints and 

 portraits, Japanese colour-prints and screens, Chinese paintings, 

 antiquities found at Ur in 1925-26, and Maya antiquities from 

 British Honduras. 



Lectures to the public were conducted by the Official Guide Lecturers 

 on week-days throughout the year, and were attended by 34,995 

 persons. The Sunday afternoon lectures, begun in the previous 

 November, were continued until April, the total paying attendance 

 being 3,281, an average of about 150. The lectures were not recom- 

 menced in the Autumn, though the Trustees announced their readiness 

 to afford facilities for the purpose to any suitable body. 



The total number of objects incorporated in the collections was 

 405,247, about 9,000 more than in 1925 and about 20,000 more than 

 in 1924. 



The figures are as follows : — - 

 Printed Books : 



Books and Pamphlets 34,968 



Serials and Parts of Volumes 1 04,978 



Maps and Atlases 996 



Music 8,798 



Newspapers (single numbers) 261,300 



Miscellaneous 7,137 



]\ianuscripts 200 



Oriental Printed Books and MSS 3,020 



Prints and Drawings 3,402 



Prints and Drawings (Oriental) 250 



Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities 785 



Greek and Roman Antiquities . . ... 270 



British and Mediaeval Antiquities 1,413 



Ceramics and Ethnography 360* 



Coins and Medals ... .'. 4,370 



Total 405,247 



Including 41 series, each conlaiuing numerous objects. 



