The Emergence of the Modern Museum

The Emergence of the Modern Museum a unique compendium of original sources presents a detailed and dynamic account of the development of the museum and its practices in Britain during a crucial period of formation. From poignant recollections of visits to stately homes to charged debates about the acquisition of the Elgin Marbles or the establishment of an Indian Museum; from early catalogue entries describing the curiosities discovered by Captain Cook to later ones organizing human skulls according to Darwinian principles-this volume offers a representative sample of the diverse contentious and often moving ideas that have shaped the modern institution. With original selections thematic organization and insightful critical apparatus this collection makes newly available a wide range of material including proposals for reform laid out in parliamentary papers essays by influential theorists and curators and firsthand accounts of museum-going in the popular press.