Science for the Nation Also by Peter J.T
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Science for the Nation Also by Peter J.T. Morris: POLYMER PIONEERS: A Popular History of the Science and Technology of Large Molecules (1986) With Colin A. Russell, ARCHIVES OF THE BRITISH CHEMICAL INDUSTRY 1750–1914 (1988) THE AMERICAN SYNTHETIC RUBBER RESEARCH PROGRAM (1989) Edited with H.L. Roberts and W.A. Campbell, MILESTONES IN 150 YEARS OF THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY (1991) Edited with Susan T.I.Mossman, THE DEVELOPMENT OF PLASTICS (1994) Edited with Anthony S Travis, Harm G Schröter and Ernst Homburg, DETERMINANTS OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE EUROPEAN CHEMICAL INDUSTRY, 1900–1939: New Technologies, Political Frameworks, Markets and Companies (1998) With Otto Theodor Benfey, ROBERT BURNS WOODWARD: Architect and Artist in the World of Molecules (2001) Edited, FROM CLASSICAL TO MODERN CHEMISTRY: The Instrumental Revolution (2002) Edited with Klaus Staubermann, ILLUMINATING INSTRUMENTS (2009) Science for the Nation Perspectives on the History of the Science Museum Edited by Peter J.T. Morris Principal Curator and Head of Research, Science Museum, London, UK © NMSI 2010 Foreword © Simon Schaffer 2010 All images courtesy of Science Museum/Science and Society Picture Library unless otherwise stated. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-23009-5 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2010 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-31119-4 ISBN 978-0-230-28314-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230283145 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Science for the nation : perspectives on the history of the Science Museum / edited by Peter J.T. Morris. p. cm. Summary: “A engaging history of the British Science Museum, produced to mark the centenary of its separation from the Victoria & Albert Museum in 1909. Rather than simply a narrative history, it uses the key themes of the Science Museum’s evolution to explore major issues and tensions common to the development of all science and technology museums” – Provided by publisher. 1. Science Museum (Great Britain) – History. 2. Science and state – Great Britain – London – History. I. Morris, Peter John Turnbull. Q105.G7S36 2010 507.4Ј42134—dc22 2010002705 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 Transferred to Digital Printing in 2012 Dedicated to all Museum staff, past, present and future Contents List of Tables ix List of Illustrations x List of Graphs xii List of Plates xiii Acknowledgements xiv Foreword xv Simon Schaffer Notes on Contributors xvii Note on Sources and Conventions xx Introduction 1 Peter J.T. Morris 1 Infected by the Bacillus of Science: The Explosion of South Kensington 11 Robert Bud 2 The First Years: The Science Museum at War and Peace 41 Tom Scheinfeldt 3 The Science Museum and the Second World War 61 Thad Parsons III 4 Ambition and Anxiety: The Science Museum, 1950–1983 90 Scott Anthony 5 Parallax Error? A Participant’s Account of the Science Museum, c.1980–c.2000 111 Timothy Boon 6 Waves of Change: How the Science Museum’s Library Rose, Fell and Rose Again 136 Nicholas Wyatt 7 ‘A Worthy and Suitable House’: The Science Museum Buildings and the Temporality of Space 157 David Rooney vii viii Contents 8 Exhibiting Science: Changing Conceptions of Science Museum Display 176 Andrew Nahum 9 Beyond the Children’s Gallery: The Influence of Children on the Development of the Science Museum 210 Anna Bunney 10 ‘An Effective Organ of Public Enlightenment’: The Role of Temporary Exhibitions in the Science Museum 228 Peter J.T. Morris 11 Collecting for the Science Museum: Constructing the Collections, the Culture and the Institution 266 Robert Bud 12 Behind the Scenes: Housing the Collections 289 John Liffen 13 The International Context and the Context of Internationalism 310 Tom Scheinfeldt Afterword A Speech made at the Dinner to Celebrate the Centenary of the Science Museum on 11 June 2009 by Professor Chris Rapley CBE, Director of the Science Museum 328 Appendix 1 Temporary (Special) Exhibitions, 1912–1983 333 Peter J.T. Morris and Eduard von Fischer Appendix 2 Table of Senior Staff at the Science Museum, 1893–2000 340 Appendix 3 Visitor Figures for the Science Museum, 1909–2008 345 Index 349 Tables 3.1 ARP Categories 63 10.1 Number of temporary exhibitions by period 230 10.2 Number of temporary exhibitions by type 231 10.3 Types of institutions associated with temporary exhibitions 231 10.4 Exhibitions covered in this chapter 232 ix Illustrations 0.1 Temporary exhibition on aeronautics, 1912 7 1.1 Cartoon of the ‘gas monster’, c. 1890 13 1.2 Sir Norman Lockyer, c.1909 18 1.3 Map of South Kensington, west side, in the 1880s 20 1.4 Model of a pumping engine, 1876 21 1.5 Sir Robert Morant, 1902 29 1.6 View of the Science Museum from Exhibition Road, c.1905 33 1.7 Copy of a merkhet and bay, 1913 35 2.1 The East Block under construction, 1916 42 2.2 HM King George V leaving the Science Museum, 1928 45 2.3 Colonel Sir Henry George Lyons c.1930s 49 3.1 Aerial view of the Science Museum, 1939 65 3.2 The ‘Aircraft in Peace and War’ exhibition, 1940 69 3.3 Rolls Royce Merlin engine mark III, c.1940 70 3.4 V2 rocket arriving at Wroughton, c.1982 85 4.1 Floor Plan of the Science Museum, 1959 92 4.2 A child in the Children’s Gallery, 1963 95 4.3 Doctor Who (played by Jon Pertwee) and the Daleks, 1972 99 4.4 Interactive periodic table, 1964 101 4.5 Plan of the first floor of the Science Museum, early 1980s 102 4.6 Robotic tortoises displayed at the Festival of Britain, 1951 109 5.1 The Upper Wellcome Gallery, 1990s 114 5.2 ‘Making the Modern World’ Gallery, November 2000 127 5.3 ‘Digitopolis’, c.2000 128 5.4 Plan of the First Floor of the Science Museum in a visitor leaflet published in 2009 129 6.1 Science Library Reading Room, 1926 138 6.2 Samuel Clement Bradford, early 1930s 141 7.1 Plan of Science Museum site, 1914 160 7.2 Science Museum special exhibition gallery, 1928 161 7.3 ‘Electric Illumination’ exhibition in the entrance hall, 1936 162 7.4 Photograph of entrance to the ‘Exhibition of Science’, 1950 165 7.5 William Thomas O’Dea, 1966 166 8.1 The East Hall in the 1950s 177 8.2 The Agriculture Gallery, 1951 181 8.3 The new Aeronautics Gallery, 1963 184 8.4 The Telecommunications Gallery, 1983 187 8.5 Long view of ‘Making the Modern World’, 2000 190 9.1 General view of the Children’s Gallery, 1931 213 9.2 Schoolboys in the Children’s Gallery, c.1931 214 x Illustrations xi 9.3 Advertisements in the 1938 guide to the Children’s gallery 218 9.4 Schoolgirls in the Children’s Gallery, 1951 219 9.5 Dioramas of ‘Early Man’ and ‘Primitive Man’, 1949 220 10.1 ‘Noise Abatement’ exhibition, 1935 233 10.2 ‘Television’ exhibition, 1937 236 10.3 ‘Chemical Progress’ exhibition, 1947 241 10.4 Natural Gas exhibition, 1971 251 10.5 ‘Science and Technology of Islam’ exhibition, 1976 254 10.6 ‘Challenge of the Chip’ exhibition, 1980 258 11.1 The three foot theodolite made by Jesse Ramsden, 1792 276 11.2 John Ambrose Fleming’s original thermionic oscillation valves, c.1903 279 11.3 Medicine chest made for Vincenzo Giustiniani, c.1565 282 11.4 Two freeze dried male transgenic mice, 1988 285 12.1 Stores at Warren Row, 1953 299 12.2 Manual Attendants move an 1886 Edison dynamo, 1956 300 12.3 Science Museum’s Director and Keepers at Hayes, 1969 303 12.4 Cubestore mobile racking system at Hayes, 1973 305 12.5 Basement store of the Department of Engineering, 1984 307 13.1 Opening of the Deutsches Museum, 1925 313 13.2 Smithsonian Castle, ca. 1860 319 13.3 Ceremony transferring the Wright Flyer to the Smithsonian, 1948 322 A.1 Lord Mandelson the ‘Rocket’ locomotive, 2009 330 Graphs 6.1 Science Library reader numbers 1882–1938 140 11.1 Percentage of Non-Wellcome items in the Science Museum collections in 2008, by decade of acquisition 270 xii Plates 1 Martin Cortes, Breve compendio de la sphera y de la arte de navigar, 1551.