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INTRODUCTORY REMARKS TO THE PAPERS
ON THE MUSEUM AND TECHNICAL IN-
STRUCTION SCHEMES.
IT is desired to direct the attention of those interested in the intellectual
welfare of Essex to the following papers, which explain in some detail the
nature of the proposals put forward by the Council of the Essex Field Club,
(a) for the establishment of a Local Natural History and Educational Museum
and Library, and (b) the promotion of an efficient scheme of Technical
Instruction in rural and other districts by means of the financial aid to be afforded
by the County Council of Essex under the provisions of recent Acts of Parlia-
ment. The papers are :—
I.—The Agreement between the Essex Field Club and the Essex and
Chelmsford Museum for the amalgamation of the two bodies, and scheme for
the establishment of a Local (Essex) Museum, Laboratory and Library.
II. and III.—Papers by Mr. F. W. Rudler and Prof. J. W. Trail on the
essential features of a Local and Educational Museum and the stimulus
which an energetic local scientific society may give to such an institution.
IV.—Scheme for Technical Instruction submitted by the Council of the
Club to the County Council of Essex.
V.—An article on the foregoing scheme extracted from a recent number of
the leading scientific journal, "Nature."
The institution of a Local Museum has always been an aspiration of the Club.
It was one of the definite aims set out in the original rules ; the idea was warmly
advocated by our first President, Prof. Meldola, in his "Inaugural Address"
delivered in 1880 (Trans. E.F.C. vol. i., pp. 12 and 13), and in the following year
Mr. Harting read a very suggestive paper "On the formation of a Local Museum"
(Trans. vol. ii. pp. 36-43). More than one attempt has been made by the Council
to put these ideas into practical shape ; the nucleus of a Collection and a Library
of considerable extent have been gradually accumulated, but the rapid growth of
the Club in other directions has tended to push this subject somewhat into the
background. It is now felt that the time has arrived for a decided step forward
to be taken.
The value of local museums as educational agencies is being very widely
recognised ; the British Association for the Advancement of Science appointed a
committee to consider the subject, valuable reports being issued in 1887 and
1888 ; and in 1889 Prof. Flower chose Museums as a principal theme of his
Presidential Address to the Association. The proposals for amalgamation coming
from the managers of the Essex and Chelmsford Museum, and the interest taken
in the scheme by friends in Essex and elsewhere, place the Club in a position to
attempt the formation of the Museum with a reasonable chance of success. The
Essex and Chelmsford Museum has been in existence for fifty years, and it has
undoubtedly done much good work ; but it was founded as a general museum,
not as a purely local one, and its constitution, like that of most old establishments
of the kind, did not provide the stimulus necessary for its continued vitality and
usefulness. It is now generally agreed that to get the best results from a local
museum, and to keep it living and growing, as it were, and well abreast of
modern views and discoveries, intimate association with an active scientific
society is needful. This necessity is well demonstrated in Prof. Trail's paper
(supra. No. III.) and it is submitted that in the Essex Field Club, with its record
of ten years' energetic and useful work, there exists a body fully capable of carry-