This book has been published to record a quarter of a millennium in the life of the most famous museum in the world. The founding of the British Museum-the first ever public, national and secular institution of its kind-took place on 7 June 1753 by means of an Act of Parliament . Today, around 5 million people visit it each year, successors to countless others who have passed along Great Russell Street since the Museum opened to the public for the first time on 15 January 1759. Some of their comments-both admiring and critical, but rarely indifferent-are given here.
Table of contents
Foundation
1750s
1760s
1770s
1780s
1790s
1800s
1810s
1820s
1830s
1840s
1850s
1860s
1870s
1880s
1890s
1900s
1910s
1920s
1930s
1940s
British Museum Departments
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
British Museum Friends
