10 ESSEX FIELD CLUB YEARBOOK, 1908.
cordial way ; and, after obtaining a detailed explanation of the scheme,
the Committee officially visited the Epping Forest Museum at Ching-
ford, on the 19th October 1897. On that occasion, the President of
the Club (Mr. David Howard) and the Hon. Secretary demonstrated
the principles of the arrangement of that Museum to the Committee
and gave information as to the Club's plans for the proposed County
Museum at Stratford.
It is unnecessary to detail the course of the negotiations,* but it
may be stated that much valuable help was rendered by Mr. John Avery,
Mr. S. Johnson, Mr. David Howard, Mr. F. H. Varley, and Mr. H. I.
Coburn. Ultimately, an agreement between the Corporation of West
Ham and the Essex Field Club, providing for the establishment and
curatorship of the Museum, was signed on the 25th July 1898.†
Later, a difficulty having arisen with regard to the erection of the
building, Mr. Passmore Edwards very generously contributed £3,000,
and subsequently gave an additional £1,000 to provide fittings and
cases. The building was designed by Mr. S. B. Russell, A.R.I.B.A.,
and the wall and floor cases were made by Messrs. J. Garvie & Son,
of Aberdeen. The foundation-stone was laid by Mr. Passmore
Edwards on the 6th October 1898.
Pending the erection of the Museum, the various collections belong-
ing to the Club, after their removal from Chelmsford, were stored in
a house at Forest Gate. On its completion, about May 1900, the
Collections were placed therein and arranged by Mr. Cole, the Curator,
kindly assisted by Mr. W. H. Dalton, Mr. Harting, Mr. H. A. Cole,
and others.
On the 18th October 1900, the Museum was opened formally by the
Countess of Warwick, in the presence of the Mayor and Corporation
of West Ham, Mr. Passmore Edwards, the President of the Essex
Field Club (Mr. D. Howard), and a very large company of ladies and
gentlemen. ‡
The scope and methods of arrangement of the Museum are set out
in Mr. Rudler's excellent Presidential Address on Museums, and in
one of the " Museum Handbooks " already mentioned.
Library.—The establishment of a Library, though included among
the original objects of the Club and worked at energetically ever since
by several very competent librarians, has met with less success in the
past than some other of the Club's efforts, mainly because of the lack
of a permanent and suitable habitation. Nevertheless, the Club has
succeeded in getting together a very useful series of books.
The idea has been from the outset that the Library shall consist
mainly of two sections :—(a) books relating in some way to the topo-
graphy, history and natural productions of Essex, and (b) general
books on geology, botany, zoology, and allied sciences, of a kind
likely to be useful to students and investigators.
The library includes also more or less complete sets (mostly acquired
by exchange) of the publications of the leading local scientific societies
of Great Britain and of the geological and biological serial publications.
The Club's library now extends to at least one thousand well-
selected volumes, but many of them are, unfortunately, still unbound
A portion of the library, consisting mainly of pamphlets and manu-
* They are fully reported in the Essex Naturalist, vol. x, pp. 231, 251-252, and 337-343, and
are summarised in Museum Handbook No. 3.
† This Agreement is fully set out hereafter (see pp. 27-29).
‡ A full report of Lady Warwick's excellent speech on this occasion, which embodies the
principles guiding the arrangement of the Museum, will be found in the Essex Naturalist,
vol. xi, pp. 323-328.