著者

伊東 剛史

出版者

公益財団法人史学会

雑誌

史學雜誌 (ISSN:00182478)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.118, no.2, pp.213-245, 2009-02-20

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The British Museum Act of 1753 appointed a Board of Trustees as the governing body of the museum. The board was formed by major donors to the institution and their heirs, prominent men of letters and science, aristocratic patrons, and senior government officials. The idea that such a mixed public body could be trusted to superintend a national collection of cultural properties came to be publicly debated during the 1830-70s, when the unceasing expansion of the museum called for the removal of its natural history department and eventually led to the foundation of the Natural History Museum in South Kensington. By examining the roles played by both the government and parliament in facilitating the transformation of the British Museum, this essay challenges the view that the British state was far less eager to promote art and science than its counterparts on the Continent. As parliamentary intervention increased during the 1830-40s, the Board of Trustees agreed to expand public access to the British Museum and to facilitate research being conducted by professional scholars and scientists. During the following decade, however, serious disagreements arose among the trustees concerning the proposed severance of the natural history collection from the museum, making it impossible for the Board of Trustees to act as an autonomous corporate body. It was Gladstone and his allies at the museum who finally rescued the lame-duck trustees and enabled the severance of the natural history collection. Although Gladstone's zealous political support of the severance excited criticism of excessive intervention by the government, it demonstrated that the Board of Trustees was an appropriate agent for monitoring the use of the national collection. On the whole, the British state was far from being a reluctant patron of the arts and sciences, taking a nuanced and open-to-negotiation approach to the development of public cultural institutions.