A SHORT HISTORYOFTHE ALBANYMUSEUM 1855 -2005, WITH A FOCUS ON ITS EARLYYEARS JamesM. Gore FormerlyoftheDepartmentofHistory, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, SouthAfrica. E-mail:[email protected] CONTENTS Abstract 1 Foundation and Opening 2 7\ Victorian Oeptlcman of Science’ 3 ‘The FatherofSouth African Geology’ 4 .5 EarlyYears, 1855-1889 Progress and Expansion, 1899-1910 7 Mpwiff and the AlhnnyMuseum 1910-1958 10 Fire! 12 Further Development, 1958-2005 12 Education 12 The Human Sciences 13 Historyand Historical Collections 13 TheAlbanyHistoryMuseum 16 The ObservatoryMuseum 17 The Old Provost 18 Fort Selwyn 18 Genealogy 19 Archaeology 19 The Natural Sciences 20 Entomology 20 o/ Earth Sciences 20 HigherVertebrates 21 Freshwater Invertebrates 22 Freshwater Ichthyology 22 The Selmar Schonland Herbarium 23 Tne AlbanyMuseumToday 23 Acknowledgements 25 Endnotes 25 ABSTRACT The AlbanyMuseum is the second oldest museum in South Africa and its history reflects the evolution ofmuseums in South Africa,aswell as the changingshape ofsocietyand attitudes in the country as awhole. This paperexplores the historyofthe AlbanyMuseumwith the aim ofpresenting a concise account that focuses on some ofthe moreinterestingandoftenneglectedaspectsofthathistory:thedevelopmentofthecollections;theearlystrugglesfornewpremises, and the contribution to the museum ofsome ofSouth Africa’s pre-eminent scientific personalities,includingWilliam Atherstone andAndrewGeddes Bain. Some commentis also made on the changingrole ofmuseums in SouthAfrica. Thepresentpaperisnotanexhaustivehistoricalexamination;rather,itrepresentsareferencedandextendedversionofpartsofthe booklet‘The AlbanyMuseum, 1855-2005’,published at the time ofthe museum’s 150th anniversary. AnnalsofEasternCapeMuseumsVol4(November2005): 1-27 1 FOUNDATION & OPENING OFTHEMUSEUM1 On 11 September, a resolution was proposed by Dr On 3 July 1855, a group of four doctors - Hutton, Hutton, and seconded by Edmunds, for the establishment Edmunds, Armstrong and Atherstone - and Mr of a ‘General Museum’, to be ‘instituted solely for the A.L. McDonald (an officer of the garrison Ordnance purpose of aiding in the prosecution of scientific pursuit Department), met for the purpose of forming a medical and ofaffording to the public ofthis City greater facilities society. At this meeting, with Dr William Guybon for the diffusion ofgeneraleducation’4. The resolutionwas Atherstone in the chair, the ‘Graham’s Town Medico- carried unanimously. The official birthday of the Albany Chirurgical Society’ was formed with Dr A. Melvin, the Museum, therefore,can be marked as 11 September 1855. DeputyInspectoroftheHospitalandInspectorofColonial After this, moves to open a museum to the public HospPirtoaploss,eedlebcyteAdssaisstthaentfiSrsutrPgreeosnidGeenot2r.ge A. Hutton, the prrooogmrewsassedprraopviiddley.d bDyonDartiWoinlslibaemgaEndmtounsdtrseaimn hiins ahnodmea Society had two objectives: ‘to facilitate intercourse on in Bathurst Street5. In the minutes to a meeting of the professionalsubjects’,andto‘collectspecimensinthevarious Societyheld inJanuary 1856,the specimens that had been departments ofMedical Science in all its branches, with received were listed under six divisions: Natural History; Native Manufacture;Anatomy,Physiologyand Pathology; the view offorming the nucleus ofa Museum’. In order to accommodatemembersfromoutsideGrahamstown’ssmall GeologyandMineralogy; Palaeontology; and Curiosities6. medicalfraternity,prominentpersonalities such asAndrew The collecting of‘curiosities’ followed the early trends of Geddes Bain, the ‘father of South African geology’, were collecting in Europe, where collecting was a privilege of immediately invited tojoin and by the end ofthe year the the wealthy and stemmed from particular individuals’own Societywas subsequently renamed the ‘Literary, Scientific interests. Collectors would often accumulate anything and Medical Society”.The purely medical character ofthe old, trivial or unfamiliar. Included in the 1856 list of Societywas therefore lost almost at once. curiositiesintheAlbanyMuseum,forexample,wereNorth AmericanIndian flint arrowheads,a Chinese pen,Chinese chopsticks, an Indian pillowcase and Hookah (smoking- pipe), and fragments taken from the tomb ofNapoleon in St. Helena7 . The Albany Museum opened for the first time to the public in the room in Dr Edmunds house on the 2 and 4 February 1856.The numbers attending were 16 and 34 respectively,butwithin afewweeks the average attendance hadgrown to be about 150,including‘aconsiderablenumber ofyoungpersonsofbothsexes’8. In April 1856, Alex McDonald, the first Secretary and Treasurer of the Literary, Scientific and Medical Society, wrote to Peter Le Neve Foster, Secretary of the Society ofArts in London, describing the progress of the infant museum: ‘Another very important branch of the Society’s operations to be briefly noticed: this consists ofa Museum whichhasbeenprosecutedwithmuchvigor,andwhichhas been well supported and encouraged by the Community -from everyclass ofwhom Contributions ofavaried kind are beingconstantlyreceived.Itis opend [sic] tothe Public on two daysintheweek,whenone oftheMembers attends to afford any explanations ofits Contents to Visitors.The attendance on these days, in fine weather, is gratifying - especially so with regard to Juveniles, who through the Fig. 1. George A Hutton, who in 1855 - together with four other room with the most eager curiosity9.’ leading citizens - initiated the formation ofa ‘medical society’,which The Albany Museum was the second museum to be wastobetheforerunneroftheAlbanyMuseum. founded in South Africa.The firstwas the South African 2 Gore:AShortHistoryoftheAlbanyMuseum MuseuminCapeTownin1825.However,Grahamstown the Cape Parliament. Born in Nottingham, England, he played a role in that too.The first Superintendent ofthat came to South Africa with the 1820 settlers in the party museum was Dr (later Sir) Andrew Smith. Smith was a of Edward Damant, his uncle. In 1835 he returned to medical surgeon and later Director-General ofthe British Britain to study medicine and, whilst there, was present Army Medical Department during the Crimean War, when Samuel Morse first demonstrated telegraphy, and during which time he was the subject of attacks from when Louis Daguerre first demonstrated the principles the famous Florence Nightingale who did her best to of photography at the Sorbonne in Paris. As a student, denigrate him and secure his dismissal. Before moving to Atherstone also expressed the views of the settlers on CapeTown, Smith was posted in Grahamstown where he South Africa before the select committee ofaborigines in amassed manyofthe natural historyspecimens andXhosa 1836, and represented the Cape Colony at the coronation collections which formed the basis of the South African ofQueen Victoria inJune 1838. Museum10 Returning to the Cape in 1840, he settled in . TwoofthefoundationmembersoltheAlbanyMuseum Grahamstown where in 1847 he performed one of the are worthy of special mention, not only because of their first operations outside Europe or America to make contribution to the Museum but also through their impact use of an anaesthetic. Celebrated primarily as a medical on South Africa’s scientific development: Dr William man, Atherstone soon achieved even greater renown as a Guybon Atherstone and Andrew Geddes Bain. geologist and palaeontologist, his interest in which was encouragedbyhisfriendAndrewGeddesBain (seebelow). A VICTORIAN GENTLEMAN OF SCIENCE’11 He spent much ofthe remainder ofhis life collecting and William Guybon Atherstone (1814 - 1898) was a describing geological and palaeontological specimens. In physician, surgeon, geologist, naturalist and member of 1867,Atherstone won immortality by identifying the first diamond to be found in South Africa12 before making his , markonpalaeontologybycollectingthegiantdinocephalian fossil, a large lizard-like reptile,which he presented to the British Museum and which, in 1876, was named after him as ‘Tapinocephalus atherstonii’. Atherstone was also a pioneer of many institutions and colonial health services. As well as the Albany Museum, he was the founder and first medical officer of the Albany Hospital in 1858. He also founded the ‘Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum’in 1875, andwasresponsiblefortheestablishmentinGrahamstown ofthe‘ColonialBacteriologicalInstitute’in 1891 -the first public health laboratory in the Cape Colony13 . Apart from being an important founding member of theMuseum,Atherstone alsoservedasthe Presidentofthe Literary,ScientificandMedicalSocietyfrom 1871 untilhis deathatthe ageof84,in 1898.Hiscontributiontotheearly development ofthe Albany Museum, and to the scientific life ofthe colony, is almost beyond description and he can aptly be described as a ‘Victorian Gentleman of Science’. The Museum’s Annual Report for 1898 summarised his contribution: ‘It is our sad duty to chronicle the death ofthe Hon. Dr. W.G.Atherstone,F.R.C.S,F.G.S,who for manyyears was President of the Committee ofthe Albany Museum. He was one of its founders in 1855 and he took ever since an enthusiastic interest in its development, and although Fig.2.DrWilliamGuybonAtherstone.Nottingham,England(b.1814; unfortunately total blindness overtook him during the last d.Grahamstown 1898):surgeon,pioneer,anaesthetist,diarist,geologist, years of his life, nothing could quench his indomitable naturalist,MLA(CapeParliament). energy. He presided overa meetingofthe Committee only AnnalsofEasternCapeMuseumsVol4(November2005):1-27 3 a few days before his death. With him a historical figure map of South Africa in 1852, while continuing to collect is gone. His share in the starting ofthe diamond industry large numbers ofspecimens.These activities were aided by in South Africa, forwhich he received the freedom ofthe his position ofInspector ofRoads, which allowed him to City ofLondon,will alone secure him a permanent place examine excavations in manyparts ofthe country. in the history ofthis colony14.’ Bain was one ofthe most versatile men ofhis day. His writings were ofgreat importance and certain prehistoric ‘THE FATHER OF SOUTH AFRICAN GEOLOGY’ creatures were named after him. Honoured by colleagues Scottish-born Andrew Geddes Bain (1796 - 1864) both in South Africa and abroad, he is recognised as the arrived in South Africa in 1816 and from then until his ‘father ofSouth African geology’. Andrew Geddes Bain death became a road-builder, geologist, explorer, trader, wasalsothefirstnon-medicalmantojointheGrahamstown soldier, writer and artist. As Inspector of Roads for the Literary, Scientific and Medical Society. Although his western Cape he spent much ofhis life building mountain contribution to the Albany Museum was not as long, or passes, the most prominent being the construction of as significant, as that ofWilliam Guybon Atherstone, it Bain’s KloofPass - during the course ofwhich he actually was Bain’s specimens and collections that formed the basis built the first South African road tunnel - although this of the Museum’s early collections and he was elected an was soon abandoned as animals refused to enterthe tunnel Honorary Life Member ofthe Societyin 1860. during darkness15 Bain is also remembered for his writings ofpoetry and . Bain’s greatest achievements, however,were in the field prose,mostnotablyfortheplay‘Kaatje Kekkelbek’;or‘Life ofgeology. Self-taught, he made his first fossil discoveries among the Hottentots’. Performed by the ‘Graham’sTown close to Fort Beaufort in the eastern Cape in 1838. Hiring Amateur Company’in 1838, it marks the origin offormal a room in Grahamstown, he began to build up a large SouthAfricanstage theatre andis one ofthe earliestworks collectionoffossils.Soonafter,hesentthiscollectionto the in Afrikaans. Geological Museum in London, where it was recognised In 1857,Bain composed averse to celebrate the second as a valuable collection and later purchased by the British anniversary of the Grahamstown Literary, Scientific and Museum. Encouraged, Bain produced the first geological Medical Society: Wellherewe are! anddon’tyouthinkwe’relookingquiterespectable? What change appears in two short years, from nought to what’s delectable! Lookroundourwalls andseewhatcallswe’veforyouradmiration! Andallshouldknowourminutes shewawiseadministration. Ourfirstattempt,twoyears ago,was meekandunpretending, Butnow'ourcupisfillingup andcircumstances mending; Some sixorsevenMedicosoutInstitutionfounded, * While now with more than seven score we’re firm and stably grounded. Don’tsayviewsarenarrow,aswefortheMillionlabor, Impartingallourknowledge to th’advantage ofourneighbour; OurEssayshavebeenvarious,nolackofbraindemanding, Andthey’llbe morevariedstillasourmeansgoonexpanding. The Science ofAnatomywe’ve certainlyadvanced, AndBotany,itsvalue toomateriallyenhanced: In marvelsofthe microscopeourboysandgirlsare knowin’ AnddeeplyreadinEhrenberg,inHookerandinOwen! Wecultivate Belle Lettres,butwe don’tdespisebellmetal WhenmetalurgicdifferencesbyChemistrywesettle: Fig.3.AndrewGeddesBain(b.Scotland1797;d.CapeTown1864);road Zoology,and alltheotherologieswehandle, builder/roadengineer,geologist,explorer,trader,soldier,writerandartist. Andnone canin Geologytouse-enholdthecandle!16 4 Gore:AShortHistoryoftheAlbanyMuseum In 1845, Dr William Guybon Atherstone and Mr to haveTrustees ofthe Museum. Subsequently,bythe end Andrew Geddes Bain found numerous fossilised bones, of1859, the Museum had been‘placed by the Society,by a including an upperjaw ofan animal, in the vicinity ofthe trust-deed legallyexecuted,whollyin the hands oftrustees farm Dassieklip on the Bushman’s River, midway between for the benefit ol the public’18 . Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth.This wasjust fouryears A committee was also appointed to draw up a petition after Sir Richard Owen of the London Natural History to the Governor asking for a Government grant, and Museum,hadsuggested thatearlyreptilian fossils found in eventually - in 1858 - the Society managed to extract EnglandshouldbecalledtheDinosauria(the‘terriblelizards’). an annual grant of£15019 from a reluctant Cape Colonial The exact nature of the animal found by Atherstone and Government.This relieved some pressure and the trustees Bain took a long time to be established. However, this decided that they could afford to temporarily employ a culminated in the positive identification ofthe animal as taxidermist. A MrJohn Adams was duly retained in 1858 Paranthodon africanus, a plant-eating dinosaur belonging at£50perannum,theMuseum’sfirstpaidofficial,and‘thus to the s.l.c Stegosaurs. The 1845 fossil discovery is now the zoological department was rendered more attractive’20 . recognised as being the first dinosaur find in SouthAfrica, Finance was not the only problem hampering the and also the first ever stegosaur to have been found17. Museum’s early development. Within a few weeks of opening in February 1856, it was clear that the original EARLY YEARS, 1855-1889 room in Dr Edmund’s house was inadequate, and there From the beginning, finance was a serious problem. was an urgent call for increased accommodation for the The necessary funds for the development ofthe Museum display and storage ofthe growing collections21. This was were first to be obtained from the annual subscriptions of a cry thatwas to echo repeatedly through the years, and is members to the Literary, Scientific and Medical Society, a problem that continues to haunt museums around the who would be entitled to free admission to the Museum world in the present day. whenever it was open. Despite the number of members Moves to secure new premises progressed rapidly and steadilyincreasing, this soon proved inadequate and it was in 1856,the upperfloorofstores ownedbyaMrTemlettin decided that to gain a more secure footing itwas advisable Hill Street was secured22.The Museum,which had Fig.4. From 1856-1880 the museumwas situatedon the firstfloorofMrsTemlettsstoreinHill Street(photoc. 1870). AnnalsofEasternCapeMuseumsVol4(November2005): 1-27 5 A closed during the transfer ofcollections,was reopened to grow. reading room was opened and monthly public A on 17 March 185623 Space continued to be a major lectures begun. Debating Societywas also established in . problem however, and at the end of 1858 the Museum’s 1862. Some ofthe earlydebates had interestingoutcomes: collections were described as being contained ‘in a room it was voted that the Printing Press had been more useful fortyfeetin length,byeighteen feet in breadth. arranged than the compass,and-by a majorityofone -that capital .. on rough shelves, around the walls, and on rougher tables punishment should not be abolished31 . in the centre of the room’24. In 1861 Mr Burt Glanville Meanwhile,the numberofvisitorstotheMuseumgrew declared to the Museum Committee that the Museum steadilyand contributions to the collections poured in.The room was completely inadequate, and that ‘if some more nature ofthese donations ranged widely.Two ofthe more spacious premises are not obtained, the efficiency of the peculiar were in 1861, when the Museum was presented Museum will be much impaired’25. with a piece of the wedding cake of His Excellency the Since the foundation of the Museum in 1855, Governor and a piece ofthe christening cake ofthe Prince suggestionshadbeenmadeforfindingasuitablebuildingto ofWales32.What became ofthese delicacies is not known! housenotonlytheMuseum,butalsotheMunicipalCouncil For much ofthe Museum’s ‘childhood’ there was no paid and Public Library.In 1864,plans for such abuildingwere curator to oversee the collections and manage the day-to- drawn up but, due to a lack offunding, went no further26 dayrunningoftheMuseum.Between 1858 and 1882,these . There were also hopes ofconstructing a separate museum duties were performed by Mr BurtJ. Glanville, the Town building and indeed, in 1867, the Museum was granted Clerk of Grahamstown, who — in 1858 - was appointed a site on the north side ofthe Drostdy Gate27. However, Secretary of the Museum sub-committee of the Literary no funds were available to build a museum and so, inJune Scientific and Medical Society33, and was eventually 1868, the Museum moved into three rooms rented by the recognised as the Curatorfrom 187034. It is clear from his Town Council atNo.8 Bathurst Street (nextto the present annual reports to the Cape Parliament - necessary since Frontier Hotel)28 the receiptofthe Government Grant- that the survival of . The Society continued to plan for a separate museum the Albany Museum during its critical early years owes a and in 1873 prepared an appeal to the Government for great deal to Glanville’s efforts and sacrifices. At a special £1000 to aid in the erecting ofa building, ‘to extend the meeting of the Albany Museum Committee held after usefulness ofwhich the institution mayat the present time his death, the Albany Museum Committee recorded ‘its boast’29 These pleas went largely unheard though, and by high estimation ofthe invaluable services both as Curator . the end of1881 the Museum had moved into the top floor and otherwise ever devoted by him to the advancement, ofthe newly completed City Hall30. usefulness and best interest ofthe institution’35. Throughout this period, the activities of the Museum Glanvillewas succeeded in 1882 byhis eldestdaughter, and the Literary, Scientific and Medical Societycontinued Miss Marion Elizabeth Glanville,who had been working Fig.5.From 1880 the Museumwas situated on the first floor ofthe Fig.6.TheGlanvilles.Left:BurtJGlanville,thefirstHonoraryCurator GrahamstownCityHall.Thisphotograph(c.1891)showsavarietyof (1872 -1882). He was also Town Clerk for many years. Right: Burt’s naturalhistoryspecimensondisplay. daughter, Marion Glanville, the first paid Curator (1882 to 1887). 6 Gore:AShortHistoryoftheAlbanyMuseum ashisassistantfortheprevioustwoyears.MissGlanville, experience, knowledge and perseverance to make the who had a particular interest in the habits ofagricultural Museum a recognised scientific research institution in pests36 became the Museum’s first paid curator at the both South Africa and overseas, through his writings for , rate of£50 per annum37 This was a miniscule sum even numerous journals. These included the Records of the . in 1882, but was the most the Society could afford as the Albany Museum, which he began in 1902, in order ‘to Government Grant remained its main source of income. publish, as materials and funds permit, scientific treatises Twenty-fouryears after the initialgrant the sum remained mainlybased on the collections ofthe Museum’43. at£150. In 1889, the Museum was in some disarray. It was still Miss Glanville worked with equal vigour as her late housed in cramped conditions in the City Hall and many father, especially in preparation for the Queen’s Jubilee of the collections were disorganised and badly preserved. Exhibition in Grahamstown in 188738, during which year Upon his arrival, Schonland set about building up a more theMuseum receivedover25,000visitors39.Hersalaryhad comprehensive collectionofwell-preservedspecimens,and increased to £100 per annum by the time of her sudden one ofhis firstactswas ensuringthe employmentofskilled death, ‘in the midst ofher labours’, in 188840. Her death taxidermists from Europe.The first ofthese to arrive was can be seen as marking the end ofthe Albany Museum’s Mr Carel Wilde from Berlin in 1889,44 replaced by Mr ‘childhood’, for she was succeeded, in 1889, by a true M. Irniger in 1892 and Mr Max Wende in 1900 - the professional and this ushered in a new period of growth latter being dismissed two years later due to his conduct and expansion.41 havingbecome‘increasinglyeccentricandunsatisfactory’.45 Accessions poured in from near and far and new PROGRESSAND EXPANSION, 1889-1910 collections were begun, including examples of ancient In 1889, Dr Selmar Schonland arrived to take up the Egypt and Roman and Greek antiquity. A start was also post ofCurator ofthe AlbanyMuseum at the rate of£200 made towards a collection of South African history. As per annum. Schonland was a botanist who came from the Museum’s annual report for 1900 described: ‘A small Frankenhausen in Germany. He had been educated at the beginning has been made with a collection of purely University ofBerlin and the University ofKiel, where he antiquarian and historic interest. In a young community obtained a PhD. in 1883. Despite also holding teaching like ours I think some special importance should be qualifications, he preferred full-time botanical work and attached to collections ofthis description.’46 before coming to South Africa had been the assistant in One of the Albany Museum’s interesting acquisitions the herbarium and botany museum at the University of in the early twentieth century was that of an Egyptian Oxford42 mummy. For manyyears the AlbanyMuseum Committee . Under Schonland’s guidance the Albany Museum had investigated the possibility ofbuilding up a collection rapidly gained in importance. He brought the necessary of Egyptian antiquities, and especially a mummy in its sarcophagus47. However, it was not until 1907 that Dr Schonland was given licence to approach Professor John Garstang48 of the University of Liverpool with the mandate ofobtaining ‘a mummy in its case’49. He rapidly set about his task for the Albany Museum, and in June 1908 Schonlandwas able to report to the Committee that mummy ‘the Egyptian with case purchased by Professor Garstanghas arrived’50 Thetotalcostofthemummy,along . with some Egyptian scarabs,was£25. Themummy,awoman,camefromtheneighbourhoodof Luxorin theThebes region ofUpperEgypt.Itcomes from the XVIII Dynasty (the Middle Kingdom) and probably dates to around 1425 BCE.The mummywas damaged in theMuseumsfirein 1942,causingblackeningandbreaking Fig.7.This Mummy, acquired in 1908 bythe AlbanyMuseum, is the ofthe binding, but still takes centre place in the Egyptian onlyone in SouthAfricain an originalcoffin. She isbelieved to have gallery in the Albany Natural Sciences Museum and is beenahighpriestessoftheGreatTempleoftheGodAmen-Ra. (Photo one of only three Egyptian Mummies in South Africa. Also ofparticular note during this period,was the takenc.1955). AnnalsofEasternCapeMuseumsVol4(November2005): 1-27 7 establishment of the herbarium on a firmer basis. The university college in Grahamstown began to develop, he Museum herbarium had actually begun in 1860 when Dr saw an excellent opportunity to employ the services of Pappe, the Colonial Botanist, donated about a thousand the university science staff. In his annual report for 1900, pressed plants, a collection that in 1863 was entrusted to Schonland wrote that in the event of such a university a competent botanist, Mr Peter MacOwan51. However, being founded: ‘It might then be possible that for certain by the time Schonland arrived the collection had lain subjects men might be appointed who could be placed in dormant for almost two decades, and it is he who became charge of limited sections of the Museum, and devote a the principal creator ofthe herbarium. Through his close portion oftheir time to teaching, an arrangementwhich is ties with Peter MacOwan, whose daughter he married in workingwell in many other institutions55.’ 1896 andwhobythis pointhadbecome ColonialBotanist, University courses had been running at St. Andrew’s Schonlandworkedactivelyforoverfortyyearsonenlarging College for many years, and it was those teachers who in the collection52.The herbarium exists today as the Selmar 1904 formed the first Rhodes University College Senate. Schonland Herbarium - having merged with the Rhodes Schonland succeeded in proposing that the scientists University Herbarium in 1993 - and houses just under among them should be paid a proportion oftheir salaries 200,000 plant specimens. by the Museum in order to act as curators. Subsequently, Meanwhile,the management structure ofthe Museum Professors J.E. Duerden and Ernest Schwarz became had begun to develop. Beginning in 1895 with a change (respectively) the curators of the Museum’s zoology and in the title of the head of the Museum from Curator to geology departments, while Schonland became Professor Director this was an effort to rearrange the Museum on ofBotany at the University, in addition to being Director , a more professional basis 53 In 1901 - 46 years after being ofthe Museum and Curator ofthe Herbarium56 . . founded - the ‘Literary, Scientific and Medical Society’ The arrangement did not last howerver, because of was dissolved, in part because it had ceased to perform Schonland’s difficulties with balancing obligations to the any function other than the management ofthe Museum. Museum and duties at the University College. In 1910, The Society’s property was transferred to a new board he was forced to step down as the Museum’s Director, called ‘The Albany Museum Committee’, consisting of although he continued as Curator ofthe Herbarium until fifteen members, including representatives ofthe Colonial 192657 His time as head ofthe AlbanyMuseum had been . Government, the Civil Commissioner of Albany, the one of extraordinary growth, despite the South African Mayor ofGrahamstown, and eight elected members54 War,Governmentfundingcuts and outbreaks ofsmallpox. . During his directorship, Selmar Schonland constantly Schonland’s close connection with the University College worked to strengthen the Museum’s position in the marked the beginning of many years of co-operation, community and improve upon it,despite having to survive that was secured in 1983 when the Museum became an on a shoestring budget. More staffwere employed and a Affiliated Research Institute ofRhodes University. new building secured. In 1900, as the idea offounding a When Dr Selmar Schonland tookup his post in 1889, Fig. 8. Dr Selmar Schonland (b. 1860, d. 1941): curator and then Fig.9.ExpeditiontoWiltonCavenearAlicedale (undated).Thepicture DirectoroftheAlbanyMuseumfrom 1889-1910. showsDrGreathead(left)andDrSchonland(secondfromleft).Other participantsareunknown. 8 Gore:AShortHistoryoftheAlbanyMuseum the Museum was still housed in the top floor of the had to be prepared for display. It had already undergone City Hall. It was immediately apparent that the quarters a long journey from the coast and was unfortunately wereinadequate.Thecollectionsandroomswerehopelessly forgotten over a long and hot weekend. The stench that overcrowded,while the taxidermistwas forced to make use greeted the Councillors the followingMondaystayed with of a room above the public library, leading to numerous them fordays,andforsome time relationsbetweencitizens complaints about the noise from the librarian58 In his and scientists were distinctly strained61 . . annual report for 1892, Schonland made it quite clear that The 1892 Annual Report prompted a steady stream of the overcrowding had become intolerable and that it was petitions to the Colonial Government for the necessary essential that a new buildingbe erected: funds to build a new museum62 None of these pleas . ‘From the very first after I came here I felt convinced met with a favourable response, although they did lead that the building was totally unsuited tor a museum,but I to an increase in the Government Grant that enabled refrained from giving public expression to this conviction the taxidermist to hire a house in Bathurst Street for until a further evil made it absolutely necessary... This his work63. However, in 1896 the Colonial Secretary, Dr latter evilwillbe obvious to anybodyvisiting the Museum, T.N.G. teWater,visited Grahamstown andwas shown the namely, the crowding of the specimens. A museum fails museum‘withwhich he expressed himselfmuchpleased’64 . in one of the most essential purposes for which it is He returned to CapeTown and immediatelyplaced£3000 established if the specimens are not clearly visible to the onthe Colonialestimates forthe purpose oferectinga new visitors and if they are not kept so far separate that the museum in Grahamstown65 . eye can rest on every one ofthem without being confused Progress towards construction then moved rapidly by other objects... An extension ofthe present building is forward. The competition for the design of the building impossible and it is therefore desirable that a newbuilding was to be between two architects, Johannes Egbertus should be erected59.’ Vixseboxse in CapeTown and William White-Cooper in Schonland also described the nature of the room he Grahamstown, but the result was a foregone conclusion was forced to use. This was the Town Hall committee and Vixseboxse, the pre-eminent architect in South room that could be claimed by them at anytime: ‘It Africa at the time, was awarded the contract66. Finally, contains our reference library, the botanical collections, on 8 September 1897, the Governor ofthe Cape Colony, the entomological collections, the collection of foreign Lord Alfred Milner, laid the foundation stone ofthe new minerals, a huge cupboard, the property of the Town museum67 . Councilandallthe furniture,fittingand material necessary The construction of the new museum was constantly for mywork60.’How the Curator himselffitted in is left to hampered by problems. These ranged from lack ofbricks the imagination. to the need to change the site from the north to the south The cohabitation ofthe Museum and the Council also side of the Drostdy Arch, as the original site granted in had its problems. On one occasion a large fish arrived and 1867,would interfere with military drilling68 Although . © Fig.10. Layingthefoundationstone oftheAlbanyMuseum (1897). Fig. 11.TheAlbanyMuseumwasopenedon22January 1902bythe W Governor,Sir HelyHutchinson. AnnalsofEasternCapeMuseumsVol4(November2005):1-27 9 the Museum was largelycompletedbythe end of1898, larger accommodation makes itself more and more felt the lack of funding for showcases meant that it was not everydayin everydirection’73.Despite constantappeals for officiallyopened until 1902. funding, it was not until 1920 that the Museum gained a The construction was also not helped by the architect. necessaryextension ofawing,followedbyanotheropened Vixseboxse’s excuses for delays in returning changes to the in 1940. Further expansion took place between 1959 and design ranged from long periods of illness and a house 1965 - during the directorship ofDrTom H. Barry-with fire, to simply forgetting69. Today, however, Vixseboxse’s theopeningoftheJohnHewittWingin 1960andthe 1820 architectural influence can be seen in many parts ofSouth Settlers Museum in 1965. Finally,while Mr BrianWilmot Africa.A Dutchman,he left the Netherlands in 1888 and was Director in the mid-1980s, 2200m offloor space was joined the Department ofWorks in Paul Kruger’s South added to the Natural History Museum, to accommodate African Republic,beforebecomingGovernmentArchitect a large workshop, a new archaeology department, a new of the Orange Free State in 1890. He left South Africa library, and an Exhibitions Department74. whenwarbroke out in 1899,returning in 1907 to open his HEWITTANDTHEALBANYMUSEUM, own firm in Oudsthoorn.Manyofthe dominantbuildings 1910-1958 in Oudsthoorn,builtduringtheostrichboom,areevidence In 1910 John Hewitt succeeded Selmar Schonland ofhis designs,as is the present home ofthe SouthAfrican as Director ofthe Albany Museum. It was a position he Museum in CapeTown70. was to hold for forty-eight years. Hewitt came from the Once new showcases began to arrive, the old premises north of England, had been educated at Jesus College, were closed in April 1900, and the public began to be Cambridge, where he achieved a fist-class in the natural admitted to sections of the new museum on weekday history tripos in 1903. Before coming to Grahamstown he afternoons from 13 August 190071 The entire building had spent fouryears as curator ofthe KuchingMuseum in . was eventually fitted out by the end of1901, and the new Sarawak,Malaysia,and ayear in theTransvaalMuseum in AlbanyMuseum was officiallyopened (with a golden key) Pretoria as assistant in the lowervertebrates section75 . on 22 January 1902, by Sir Walter Hely-Hutchison, the Hewittwas azoologistspecialisinginspiders,scorpions Governor ofthe Cape Colony72 andlizards However,duringhistimeattheAlbanyMuseum . . The Albany Museum finally had a building designed he became a recognised expert on rock art, archaeology specificallyforits purpose. However,itwas notlongbefore and local history, and wrote numerous papers on a variety space was again a problem. As early as 1903, the Director of subjects, including amateur mechanics76 In 1921 he . wrote that ‘an early extension of the premises should be described the now well-known Wilton culture of stone taken into consideration’, and in 1904 that ‘the need for implements from a type site near Alicedale, and in 1927 excavated a cave at Howison’s Poort near Grahamstown, finding a range ofstone tools from both the Middle and Later Stone Ages. In 1935, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science by Rhodes University College (University of South Africa), and the following year the SouthAfricanMedalofthe SouthAfricanAssociationfor the Advancement of Science. Despite constant financial constraints,hisdirectorshipismarkedbythe strengthening ofcollections, by additions to the Museum building, and by the development of a viable school service. He finally retired in 1958, and passed away three years later. He is commemorated by awing and a galleryin his name77 . In his first annual report, while congratulating his predecessor for his many years of work, it is clear that Hewitt’s first impressions ofthe AlbanyMuseumwere far from good. He found a museum too small for its contents and overcrowded in everydepartment.The Herbariumwas excellent,but needed government funding.The Zoological Department lacked contact with the outside world of research,and numerous specimenswere unclassified.