TEMPLE OF THE MUSES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue LXXI, 14 September 1940, Page 2 (Supplement)

TEMPLE OF THE MUSES

By A. W. B. Powell

THE term museum has not always been employed in its present application. The word appears to date from 300 8.C., when at Alexandria, Ptolemy Soter founded the first museum or Temple of the Muses. This, however, was not a museum in our sense of the word, but rather a place of learning frequented by a society or academy of learned' men devoting themselves to philosophical studies and the improvement of knowledge. . • " The modern museum has arisen not as a direct outcQme of this "temple of the innsns," but rather as a slow development and organisation of the inborn trait in tho individual to acquire and treasure objects of curiosity, beauty and interest. Thus in ancient days Solomon and Augustus of Home displayed their tasto and their magnificence by assembling together in their palaces curious objects brought Jrom distant lands. • Preserving the Mammal. Perhaps the nearest early approach to a public museum was represented by the medieval practice of housing rare curiosities in temples, churches and monasteries. These institutions attended solely to the preservation of specimens— there was no attempt to display or ■utilise the material for the furtherance of scientific study. When small private museums were founded for tho benefit of the public tlicir proprietors still were more concerned with the rare and unusual rather than with the interpretation of Nature by means, of arranged exhibits. According to the printed catalogue of tho Musaeum Tradescantianum, published in 1056, this London institution seemed to house a wonderfully incongruous variety of objccts, some of fanciful interpretation. Tims the catalogue "describes "Two feathers of the Phoenix Tayle," "The Claw of the bird Roct, who, as Author's report, is able to trusse an Elephant." There v/as also the famous "Dodar" from the island of Mauritius; "it is not able to flic, being 60 big."

Even to-day, this early specimen of tie now extinct Dodo is still to to found represented "by th© head and foot preserved in the University Museum of Oxford. Of tKe claw. of the Eock and -the Phoenix feathers, however/ their claims have been discreetly allowed to lapse." , ' Birth of Modern Museum. Upon the .'association of individuals together into societies to promote the advancement of' knowledge, these bodies in their eorpwate capacity frequently made the fonQgtion of a museum part of their function. One of the earliest instances of this in England was the founding .of the museum of the Royal Society in Crane Court in about IGBO. The idea, that the maintenance of-a museum should be a-public-duty of the State or ■ municipality, however, was very slowly realised, and until this did come about the real educational field of the museum remained undeveloped. In fact, the modern museum has only recently commenced to fulfil its real destiny alongside the earlier developed educational institutions. Not so long ago a museum was char- • acterised by neatly-arranged rows of specimens, each bearing a small label featuring a staggering Latin name, fol- . lowed by it'brief locality reference. Some prior knowledge'of the respective groups ' was necessary to the visitor, or else the collections became bewildering and boring to the extreme, so that finally, although the visitor had seen much, the impressions taken away amounted almost to nil. To-day an entirely different 1 museum technique lias been developed. and is even, yet .in its comparative infancy. Illustrated Stories ; The modern idea -is to ' restrict the exhibits to a' series of units,' each with its own concise story to tell. The maze : of detail is done away with, .and only specimens relevant to.the idea portrayed i are shown. Thus, instead of, at best, a : jumble of isolated facts the visitor i departs with some concise knowledge of < a few subjects of his or her choice. . <S> : -— —

to its logical conclusion a .museum exhibit should feature only relevant specimens, the labels formingvtbe text and the specimens the ijlu'stratiops. ; .Some modern American{museums have expended huge sums on lavish, realistic habitat groups which,'. considering '/the •great space they occupy'in -relationsto. the comparatively' small' information they impart, could very well be over-de-veloped in a museum at the expense oI more normal functions. While admitting that these .-large group exhibits' have .a great, appeal' they are best- considered as the show windows of an establishment, the purpose of . which is to attract the visitors and. induce, them to .inspect' the wa'ree inside, represented by the-less pretentious.- cases>;eij:l> of which, however, has its own story'to tell. ' - - f ■ The illustration shows a corner of the famous Portland Museum, formerly-tho property of the Duchess of Portland: The collection was sold by auction in lTSfj. and the illustration, is from the -..sales catalogue. The vase shown in the'middle of;the picture is the celebrated Portland Vase. , ' . . x