Edward Edwards; The Chief Pioneer of Municipal Public Libraries (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. EARLY PAMPHLETS ON LIBRARY AND EDUCATIONAL QUESTIONS, AND HIS EVIDENCE BEFORE THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE ON THE BRITISH MUSEUM, 1836. In two particulars, more especially, our great National Museum stands distinguished among institutions of its kind. The collections which compose it extend over a wider range than that covered by any other public establishment having a like purpose. And . . . those collections are also far more conspicuously indebted to the liberality of individual benefactors. ?Lives of the Founders of the British Museum, It was ordered by Parliament on a7th March, 1835, that a Select Committee be appointed to inquire into the condition, management and affairs of the British Museum. On this committee were Mr. Hawes, Mr. Ewart, Lord Stanley, Lord John Russell, Lord Dalmeny and others. The blue book containing the report of the committee extends to over six hundred pages, and this, with the report of the following year, must ever be an important link in the development and general history of this great national institution. Edwards was not called before the committee of 1835, but he embodied his views of the evidence given before it in a pamphlet of remarkable ability, addressed to Mr. Benjamin (afterwards Sir Benjamin) Hawes (1797- 1862), M.P. for Lambeth, and Under-Secretary for War. The appointment of the committee was mainly due to the efforts of Mr. Hawes, but what chiefly led up to it were some complaints respecting the administration which were made by a discharged servant.1 This, however, occupied but a small part of the inquiry. On 14th December, 1835, Mr. B. Hawes wrote to Edwards: ? 1 Pagan's Life of Sir A. Panizzi, vol. i., p. 151. I have only just finished reading your very valuable paper on the Museum. I hope you will ...