Abstract
ON the outbreak of war many museums were closed to the public, following the example of the various national museums under Government control. It was a regrettable move on the part of the Government, for these institutions are centres of education and mild recreation, as well as repositories of valuable specimens, and the use of them would have been a welcome relief from more stern affairs to many of the public and the troops. Now in a pamphlet issued by the Board of Education, entitled “The Schools in War-time” (Memorandum No. 4), “The Use of Museums” is discussed, and we have the curious spectacle of the president of the Board of Education urging the value in war-time of museums and urging the use of museums, while those museums over which he has some measure of control remain closed. Nevertheless the policy which he urges in this pamphlet is the right one, and War Circular No. 1 of the Museums Association on “Museums and the War” gives a lead. Not only is it desirable, according to this circular, that existing museum services should continue, but also that additional educational services should be provided. Ways are shown in which museums can help. It is probable that in many cases reduction of staffs may render special efforts impossible; but it is not a serious matter to make halls and galleries, as many as the number of attendants will allow, available for the public.
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Museums and the War. Nature 144, 778 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144778c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/144778c0