British Museum (Natural History): Director's Office: The Index Museum, Correspondence...

This series consists of the papers of the Attendant in charge of the Index Museum and his assistants. It includes reports to the Director, correspondence about curatorial and exhibition techniques, notes on specimens, layouts for cases and diaries.

Series held at The Natural History Museum are catalogued more fully in its online catalogue (reference DF DIR/938). Online descriptions of some individual records can also be viewed on Discovery, see DF 938.

The papers of the Exhibition Section, set up in 1938 after Wray's retirement, are held elsewhere in the Archives.

Topics

Museums and galleries

Diaries

The first member of staff devoted to the Index Museum was Arthur Edwin Horn, who served as boy attendant from 1885-1892. Charles Arthur Wray, who had been a boy attendant in Geology from 1891, was appointed to the Index Museum in 1894 and served until 1936, when he retired as a Higher Grade Clerk. Wray was assisted by two temporary workers: Walter George Ridewood (1864-1921), who worked on the preparation of the morphological series from 1888-1917, and G R Brook, who worked from 1919.

The idea of an Index Museum in the Central Hall of the museum came from Richard Owen who, in 1859, had written that it should 'show the type-characters of the principal groups of organized beings,' and act as an introduction to the specialised galleries. When the Museum opened in 1881, the side bays contained exhibits on the major groups of animals and plants, while the centre was reserved for very large specimens and exhibits illustrating general laws and points of interest that could not be dealt with elsewhere. The Index Museum was the only display area controlled by the Director rather than the departments, and Flower, Lankester and Harmer, in particular, took a close interest in its development. C A Wray was a member of the Director's Office and worked closely with successive directors.