Museums and Galleries
Museums and Galleries
Museums have been established and operated by universities, local organisations, charities, private enterprise, central government and local authorities. The first public museum in Scotland, the University of Glasgow Hunterian Museum opened in 1807.[1] Local authority museums were mainly established under legislation dealing with public libraries.
Scottish local authorities were first empowered to establish museums by the Libraries (Public) Act 1853 which extended the Public Libraries Act 1850, to Scotland and Ireland.[2] This enabled royal and parliamentary burghs and burghs of barony or regality with a population of more than 10,000 to adopt the Act and establish free libraries funded by the rates.[3] The museum or library was to be run by the town council or a committee appointed by the council, and admission was to be free. The following year the level of the rate was increased, and the funding could be spent on ‘Specimens of Art and Science’ as well as accommodation and staff.[4]
In 1867, art galleries were specified for the first time and the power to set up free libraries, museums and art galleries was extended to police burghs and parishes.[5] In 1887 the Public Libraries Consolidation (Scotland) Act extended the range of institutions to include schools of science and schools of art. Women householders were entitled to vote and to be appointed as members of the library committee.[6] The requirement that these be open to the public free of charge was retained.[7]
The requirement to have a householder vote to adopt the Act was removed in burghs in 1894 and instead it could be adopted by a resolution of the magistrates and council.[8]
The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 partially repealed the 1887 act and defined the term ‘museum and art gallery authority’ to be regional, islands and district councils. The act also required that regional councils should ensure there was adequate provision in consultation with district councils which enabled considerable flexibility in local arrangements.[9] Under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994 these responsibilities were transferred to the new unitary councils.[10] From 2007 onwards, some councils set up trusts, eligible for charitable status, to manage council-owned facilities and provide museums and heritage functions on behalf of the council.
Several local authority museums had their origins in collections developed by local antiquarian or natural history societies.[11] University museums benefitted from donations and bequests from private collections but these were generally not open to the public until the Hunterian was established in 1807.[12] University departments developed collections for research and teaching purposes, which often evolved into publicly accessible specialist museums, such as the University of Edinburgh’s St Cecilia’s Hall which holds musical instruments, or the University of Dundee’s collections.[13] A combination of the collections of Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and university collections in the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, were the basis for what later became the National Museums of Scotland.[14]
The main records generated by museums and galleries are collections documentation, such as entry forms, accession registers and catalogues, held permanently with the collections. The records of the governing body, such as the board of a charitable trust or the relevant committee of the local authority, may include reports from the museum staff and the collections development policy.
Compiler: Elspeth Reid (2021)
Related Knowledge Base entries
Preservation of Ancient Monuments and Listed Buildings
Bibliography
Haythornthwaite, J. A., N. C. Wilson and V. A. Batho, Scotland in the Nineteenth Century: an analytical bibliography of material relating to Scotland in Parliamentary Papers, 1800-1900 (Scolar Press, 1993)
Murray, David, Museums. Their history and use, with a bibliography and list of museums in the United Kingdom. 4 vols. (James MacLehose & Sons, 1904)
References
[1] The Hunterian ‘History’ <https://www.gla.ac.uk/hunterian/about/history/#d.en.190639> [accessed 17 December 2018].
[2] Public Libraries Act 1850, (13 & 14 Vict. c.65).
[3] Libraries (Public) Act 1853 (16 & 17 Vict. c.101).
[4] Public Libraries (Scotland) Act 1854 (17 & 18 Vict. c.64) s.15.
[5] Public Libraries (Scotland) Act 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c.37) s.2.
[6] Public Libraries (Consolidation) Act 1887 (50 & 51 Vict. c.42).
[7] Public Libraries (Consolidation) Act 1887 (50 & 51 Vict. c.42) s.32.
[8] Public Libraries (Scotland) Act 1894 (57 & 58 Vict. c.20).
[9] Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (c.65) s.163(3).
[10] Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994 (c.39).
[11] David Murray Museums. Their history and use, with a bibliography and list of museums in the United Kingdom. Vol. 1 (James MacLehose & Sons, 1904), pp. 167-69. <https://falkirklocalhistory.club/around-the-area/the-early-museums-of-falkirk/> [accessed 3 Mar 2024].
[12] Murray, Museums. Their history and use, pp. 151-69.
[13] <https://www.stcecilias.ed.ac.uk> [accessed 3 Mar 2024]; <https://www.dundee.ac.uk/museum> [accessed 3 Mar 2024].
[14] Murray, Museums. Their history and use, pp. 167-69; <https://www.nms.ac.uk/about-us/our-organisation/history/> [accessed 3 Mar 2024].