BRITISH WAR MUSEUM

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3137, 16 July 1917, Page 6

BRITISH WAR MUSEUM

A REPOSITORY FOR INTERESTING. SOUVENIRS (By. Dr. J. Allan Thomson, Director of the Dominion Museum.)

Laite numbers of that interesting publicaiiton "The Museujns Journal" continue to draw attention to the excellent work; being done in the direction of forming "war museums. Early in 1918 the idea of local war museums was advanced, find indications of their scope and material, a<s well as their educational aii'i. patriotic possibilities, w.ero givjii. The current number, however, in au t'xcelle'nt editorial on "A National AVar Mu.seum," enters on the large nsu-3.it of tho -question. From it we learo that tho 'British AVar Cabinet has given it-s sanction to the proposal of Sir Alfred Mond,. First Commissioner of AVorks, to establish a National War Muse-Jin, <n which the editor comments as foil jus-.-

"A museum designed lo commemorate the labour and sacrifice of oiu- aok'.ieis and sailors in this war, and the varied and essential activities of civilian warworkers, will command general :in:l cordial support. But let it be a national museum, not in name only, but in reality. Abo re all, we wish to emphasise at the outset t!» hope that a preponderating share in tho National War Museum will be girten to the rank and file of our forces by land and sea; to the so "who sweat nnd endure, who suiter ?nd i'bleed, our laughter-loving, heroic, i:iccmrparable "Tommy And Jack." There is no danger that tiio parts taken in the war by the offienrs, and especially by the higher officers, of the Army ■ and Navy will not be adequately illustrated, nnd it is right tbat this should be so. for the officers bear a full share of suffering and responsibility; but history Jintl experience prove , all too clearly that the common fighting jnan is apt to be soon forgotten." Fallowing the consent vof the War Cabinet: to the proposal, a. bare outline of the (scope of the museum was announced in the "Times" of March. 26, when it ivas stated;, that "The object 5s to collect end preserve for inspection objects illustrating th o British share in the war. The exhibits will comprise examples of the arms and other war materials used by tho British naval and military forces, trophiia captured from the enemy, souvenirs found on the battlefields, inventions, connected with munition-making at homiy the literature and art of the war (inducting regimental magazines and trench drawings), maps, the music of of the "war, placards issued by tho Government 1 in connection with recruiting, economy, and loan campaigns, medals, decoratioi ts, and aittggraph letters of those who have taken distinguished parts in the war.-

Taking thus official indication of tho mere "bare bones" of the national war museum, the' -writer/of the article goes on to mako etomo excellent suggestions. For instance, sipeaking of the advisability of prompt ana , energetic action in collecting niateriaf for the war museum at once, Mr. Buttsrfiwkl instances the splendid results ackievied by Professor Hazelius in the formation of the Nordiska Museot of Stockholm, "tho best and truest of museums. Hazelius did not wait until the changes lirought by the substitution oLmeclianJoal labour for manual labour, but began, 'lo i'orm tho colleacion at the critical moment when the old order was Tapidly giving way to the new." So with the .gathering of Ihe small as well as tho la.tge material jor vnr mmseums. For instance, one would like to think that such filings as that historic fo-Dtball dribbled across No Mans Land by those eager Inds who played tlie prnie foi- the last time, v>tith Death as goalkeeper, will be a national possession, and that tho machine-gun captured single-handed near Verneuil by Private Wilson, of the Light lVifantry, when he won his V.C. would not be merely one ot a type or section, but be the undying interest of a magnificent deed by oiio of the "rank and file.' , ' As Mr. Butterfield pithily remarks: "The difficulty of museums is to -get enough, the great danger to show too much." Thereforo one follows with interest the suggestions for adequate but restrained delineation of all sides of a soldier's life—including bis play. For it must bo remembered that all that great new army (both British and colonial) which is not only upholding the honour of Britain's past traditions, tat is creating new ones on entirely new lines of its own, is essentially a. citizen army, i'o quote the editorial once more: "rhoso wlio follow after us will want to know somothing of the manners, usages, and comportment of our citizen arany in the great part, from its feate of areas, soldiers and sailors' charm*, amulets, talismans, and mascots, intended to propitiate evil and coax benign influences, should also be collected. A lofty disdain is not the attitude of mind to adopt towards such things, for as long as human life holds mysteries, human beings will follow instinct rather than reason." Ihc extraordinary diversity of country, colour, uiinate, and environment, which exists in the new army of the King to-day, will thus find"expression in the war mementoes of the museum of the future. It lias been said that the effect on. art rf the most stupendous war' the world hae ever known has been curiously slight thus far. Speaking of ■■ Academy pictures or finished studio work, this is probably quite true, for tho wild wimteof war -whith. sweep the world to-day leave little room for the realisa--lion of the artist's dreams- Seclusion and concentrittfon are personal privileges of tho past which will only be attainable with that "peace with honour' which is the desire of the nations.

/ Prison Camp Souvenirs. I It is in the prison camps, where men beguile the empty hours by such pathetic devices as carving grotesques from the bones they ha?e picked at their scanty meals, designing and modelling .<*nivenirs from the remains of the stale crusts they liave chewed, and improvising playing cards from scraps of waste paper, that the art of war time expresses itself mo.,t vividly. There is in the Stockholm Museum a most interesting col ootion of such things made by Dr. Gnstave Halstrom. while on a tour of the pi son camps. Personal experience teaches how rough sketches mora or loss ftnifhwl, maps and outlines of incidents winch developed into dram<riic crises. Tiosse=sion 'of private people, which Jate IZ become treasures of the National War Museum. . . ~ How illuminating such brief, vwitl, notes of line or colour can be on the scenes and nhases of the war, ™-™° saw the brilliant sketches of Gallipoh made under fire by Sapper Moore-Tones, and who know by heart the greetings of our "Anzac Book." need not be told. Evervone too will appreciate the stress bid 'bv Mr. BnttoWMd on the necessity of includin? with "the autouranh letters nf some of those who have taken distinguished parts in Hip war diaries and not e-books written l>y solmers at (lie front vhieh often sive illumirafins plimpsps of the war from the pnii'ts of view of the lishting man. A. strikra? phenomenon of the war has been tlm .iiunilinr nf soldier-poets, some of whose work rill certainly tako a permanent place in c-nr literature. If would be good to see the very paper on which "Edward Melbourne (Lieutenant W. N. Hodgson, who wni killed in the Somme advance, in 1916) wrote these lines: —

I, that on my familiar hill Saw with uncomprehending eyes A hundred of Thy sunsets spill Their fresh and sanguine sacrifice, Ere the sun swings his noonday sword Must say good-bye to all of this: By all delights Hint I shall miss, Help me to die, 0 Lord. "He who would know something of the psychology of our soldiers' cannot bo better thiiii go to their poetry. Thwro is nothing of Lissuuer's hate in it; no rancour or bitterness, no bitterness, no meanness or terror; but a great love cf mother-land shines out of tho linos, and a iiuiet earnestness lo dare and to c'o. We trust that tho soldier-poets will not bo lost sight of in the National AVar Museum." Red Cross Section, In nrevious numbers of the "Museums Journal'.' the formation of a "Red Cross Section" of local war museums has been very interestingly dealt with. Tn the current number of the "American Museum ■Journal" a an article on "How Science Supplies the Needs of tho Modern Soldier" deals with tho recentlyopened ejhjbit of, military, hygiene, in-

aujruratcd by the Health Department. Here, thousands of miles uway from tlio tfjenes of the actual conflict, it is possible to sividy every aspect of tho n.odenl soldier's welfare in Inearth ami disease, si shown by the latest experience and tho very latest scientific and mechanical inventions. Here), too, are the homely detaiVs of the soldier's every day existence as shown in bis daily rations, his mess kit, his gas-mask, and tiro little sealed packet of sterilised dressings for the prompt bandaging of wounds now supplied to our soldiers with instructions as to their proper application. In this comprehensive section is tho group of objects illustrating tho malady known as "trenoii foot," a gangrenous condition contracted by soldiers standing for days in water us they frequently do in the trenches. The various types of jiead covering inclndjng the steel helmet, with its suggestions of mediaeval warfare, and the gas-hcilnict, so strongly reminiscent of the diver's equipment aio •all here. This exhibit of military liywieno was installed piyor to April, 1917, before America's entry into tho war, and there can be little doubt that the practical and exhaustive information thus collected and put on public record for the public good, will l>e still nioro eagerly studied in tlieso later times wheu the American nation stimds shoulder to shoulder with the Allies.