io Boyd Dawkins, Organisation of Museums 



of events by which our intercourse with the East is becoming closer 

 than it ever has been in the past. For this section there are the 

 materials in the existing galleries, and in the private collections that are 

 available. The only difficulty to be anticipated will be in the exclusion 

 of objects in which art is not the first consideration. If ethnology or 

 anthropology be admitted it will be as the letting in of water. 



Section IV. Western or Occidental. — The Western or Occi- 

 dental section constitutes the last of the four main groups. It should 

 be confined to mediaeval and modern art — to painting, and applica- 

 tions of art to stone, metal, wood, pottery, glass and fabrics, giving 

 under each head examples of the best art work that can be obtained. 



Section V. Special Groups. — To these sections must be added 

 a special group of exhibits whether they be artistic or not that throw 

 light on the life in Manchester in the past — such as " Old Manchester," 

 now in Queen's Park Gallery. It will grow as rapidly as " Old London " 

 has grown in the metropolis, and will appeal as strongly to the civic 

 patriotism of the citizens. It will be of special value to the schools 

 in the district. 



A great central Art Institution on these lines will be of high educa- 

 tional value in Manchester to all classes and more especially to those 

 who are engaged in the industries of the district. It will place our 

 workers on equal terms in art with our rivals who have enjoyed similar 

 institutions for many years. It will not, however, meet the needs of 

 the manufacturers, merchants and workers generally, who look for the 

 best examples of mechanical processes, and handicrafts. These can 

 only be exhibited in an Industrial or Technical Museum, such as those 

 at Hamburg and Washington. The machinery for building up such an 

 institution are ready to hand in Manchester. 



VII. — An Industrial or Technical Museum in 

 Manchester. 



We may learn from past experience the best steps to be taken in 

 organising a new Industrial Museum. In the formation of the Man- 

 chester Museum, the Owens College, and afterwards the University, 

 was a centre around which the collections were organised fur teaching. 

 It was realised from the very first that without the voice of the 

 teachers the Museum would be a closed book to the public, and 

 practically useless in general education. We have a similar centre in 

 the Municipal Technical College, in which large collections are now 

 being accumulated for use in the classes. It would not be difficult to 

 use these as a nucleus for a great Museum, of equal service to 

 students and the general public, especially to the workers who cannot 

 attend classes, and standing in the same relation to the College of 

 Technology as the Manchester Museum to the University. The 

 organisation would naturally follow the teaching, and take such shape 



