Abstract
AN appeal for financial assistance towards the needs of the Palestine Folk Museum, appearing in The Times of April 19, should meet with a sympathetic reception from the widespread public in Great Britain and America, which is interested in the history and culture of Bible lands. The museum, which is situated in Jerusalem, was opened in 1936 under a committee formed in the preceding year and composed of representatives of the resident English, Arab and Jewish communities. Unfortunately it has no funds, and its work is carried on by voluntary helpers no inconsiderable burden, even with a tolerant standard of efficiency. No Government grant has been made towards the expenses of the Museum, nor is it eligible to receive assistance from the funds provided by the Carnegie Corporation to aid the museums of the Empire through the Museums Association, Palestine being a mandated territory. Until something in the nature of an assured income is provided, it will not be possible to appoint a curator, an obvious necessity, or to carry on research. Folk museums now have a recognized and an increasingly important part to play in the record and study of cultural history; but the value to the student, whether archaeologist or historian, of a folk museum in a country in the near East, such as Palestine, is exceptional. A prolonged period of little cultural change has preserved peasant arts and industries, with their characteristic implements and appliances, domestic and other, virtually unchanged for many centuries, so that objects can be seen in daily use in the villages, which are identical in form and purpose with finds from Palestinian sites of the Bronze and Iron Ages. This period of comparative immobility is rapidly drawing to a close under the impact of an expansion of population and industry under Western influence.
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Palestine Folk Museum. Nature 139, 707 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139707a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139707a0