Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
This is fortunate, for it is relatively easy to find out what objects were
specifically acquired for a new gallery and which ones were considered
to be of particular significance by the curators. The new objects illustrate
changes in chemical practice but also in the curators' changing aims for
the gallery. Of course, the objects are only part of the story, and the
medium - the display - is a vital part of the image production. Although
there are fewer photographs than one would like, especially for the
earliest galleries, it is possible from these photographs to make an
intelligent analysis of the display techniques which were used.
4.1 The Western Galleries, 1890-1916
The chemistry galleries in the Western Galleries existed from 1890 to
1916. They were lofty and generously illuminated by natural light, in
many respects similar to the Smithsonian's Arts and Industries building
which opened in 1881. The cases were traditional mahogany cases with
elegant piano-style legs. They were fairly tall and judging by the photo-
graph of the Time Gallery from this period tended to dwarf the smaller
objects in them. In the late nineteenth century the museum was very
much under the thumb of the Department of Science and Art (Board of
Education from 1900) of which it was a part. The emphasis was on
current scientific practice and on education of young people, almost
entirely men, embarking on a technical or scientific career. Part of the
purpose of the museum was to show teachers, including college lecturers,
the latest scientific apparatus and achievements. The constituency was a
combination of scientific civil servants (
e.g.
William Abney, Frederick
Abel), leading chemists (
e.g.
Henry E. Roscoe), the staff at Imperial
College (who could borrow the apparatus), educationalists, and the scien-
tific instrument trade which was very active in London until the 1960s.
The chemistry collections were very small in the early 1880s and they
did not benefit from the amalgamation with the Patent Museum, so that
there was a need to acquire a large number of objects. Most of these new
acquisitions were new scientific apparatus lent or (more rarely) donated
by scientific instrument makers and suppliers (Catalogue 1906). Various
set-ups for gas analysis were particularly well represented, perhaps re-
flecting the importance of the gas industry and the steel industry in the
