HOW TO FORM A TEMPORARY MUSEUM.
A temporary museum will, in all probability, be a Vacation- or Summer-museum; there will, therefore, be no need for stoves or fires, and scarcely any for artificial light. The sun rises in summer as early as any members of the museum committee are likely to be stirring, and by sunset it will be time to close. We will suppose, then, that the season is summer and the place a small town in the country. In the first place a small local committee of those interested in the scheme should be formed, and a small sum of money guaranteed. The next step should be to borrow a set of school premises, or hire for a couple of months an empty house. If only a small cottage were obtainable it should have a back garden in which a large wooden shed could be put up. The essentials are plenty of room, plenty of light, and good protection from weather. If the premises secured be those of a school, the next thing will be to arrange with some carpenter for the hire of a quantity of boards which, laid across the desks, will make tables. It may be possible, on similar terms, to obtain from a draper a quantity of baize, or its very cheapest equivalent, but this would not be absolutely necessary. Having secured plenty of table-space, the next point is to prepare the walls. It will be required to display on these, Portraits, Maps, Illustrations, &c., &c., and for pinning these up some sort of framework is desirable. The carpenter will soon put this together and cover it with baize or flannel.
The rooms being made ready, the next step is to fill them, and about this there will be no difficulty. As a preliminary measure a circular will have been sent out, inviting all residents to contribute their curiosities on loan. It will be strange if this be not bountifully responded to by cases of stuffed animals and birds, collections of eggs and of shells, and boxes of minerals. Ammonites, elephants’ teeth, mammalian skulls, butterflies, wasps’ nests, flint implements, and Missionaries’ curios will be brought in great abundance. All these, properly arranged, with descriptive labels, may be made most interesting and instructive. A certain number of glass-covered display-cases, with locks, will now be required in order that fragile or valuable specimens, and especially those on loan, may be properly taken care of. Such cases may be made inexpensively, and our Haslemere Museum will be glad to supply patterns, or even, if wished, to loan the cases themselves.
At this stage the Committee should remember that a museum has been well defined as “a collection of labels illustrated by specimens,” and should obtain, if it has not already done so, a set of our printed labels, and ascertain for how many of them illustrative specimens can be produced. Steps should next be taken to obtain elsewhere any specially desirable exhibits which may not be forthcoming. Some Horns, Antlers, Skulls, &c., are sure to be wanted, and no doubt the Geological series and the Flint implements will need to be supplemented. These deficiencies may be supplied in some instances by borrowing from other adjacent museums, or they may be purchased at various dealers.
A very important and attractive department of the temporary museum will be the display of Pictures, Maps and Portraits. These, like those just mentioned, may be hired, if they cannot be begged or borrowed. A diligent ladies’ sub-committee, well supplied with bundles of old unbound copies of The Illustrated London News, Graphic, Vanity Fair and Punch would soon construct an attractive portrait gallery, as well as sundry most interesting series in illustration of social history, scenery, geography and natural science. There is not anywhere a small town in which material of this kind may not be brought to light from the cupboards in which it is uselessly stowed away. The best way of dealing with it would be to procure some false-backed frames, such as we have in use at Haslemere. In many instances portraits, maps, &c., will not need to be put into frames, but may be at once pinned up in well-classified series on the walls.
We have said nothing as yet as to a department which ought to be made one of the most important, especially at a sea-side resort. A Vivarium for the display of local specimens in their fresh and living states should be arranged either in an ante-room or hall, or in a shed, or under a verandah outside the building. In this should be a stand for flowers (all named), and bell glasses and large saucers for the reception of shell-fish, sea anemones, sponges au naturel, sea-weeds and corallines. Illustrations and explanatory labels for most of these our Haslemere press can supply.
The charges for admission to the show should be: before its completion, sixpence each person; when complete and in good order, threepence for adults, half-price for children; and on Saturdays a penny all round. Books of tickets, making a very liberal reduction, should be available. The result would be, if circumstances were favourable and zeal abounded, that the guarantors would lose nothing and might possibly carry forward a modest balance to begin next year with. Meanwhile the prosperity and reputation of the sea-side resort would have been helped and a large number of persons would have been entertained and instructed.
The following paragraph appeared a short time ago in one of the daily papers:—
The complaint is often made that there is little opportunity to learn anything about the specimens exhibited in museums. At Brooklyn the experiment has been tried of placing for the use of visitors books bearing upon the subjects exhibited alongside the cases. This experiment seems to have been most successful.
The Brooklyn experiment is not a new one. It has been practised for many years past in our museum (vide Museums’ Journal, vol. ii., 1902).