A Statement submitted to the Council of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria, in Reference to a Correspondence between Professor McCoy and the Honorary Secretary of the Institute, upon a Paper entitled 'Museums in Victoria'
Melbourne, Printed for Circulation among the Members of the Institute (by Goodhugh and Hough), August 1857.
Octavo, 16 pages.
Unbound sheets, folded as issued, uncut and unopened; some faint tanning; in near-fine condition.
This pamphlet, rarely found in the unbound sheets (as here), relates to an ongoing dispute between naturalist and museum director Frederick McCoy (1817-1899) and the Philosophical Institute (and its Honorary Secretary John Macadam) over the purpose of museums in colonial Victoria. 'A government museum collection had begun in 1853, but languished in storage in 1855. McCoy persuaded the governor to ask the university for accommodation. The university, pressing the government for completion of its buildings, agreed to allot rooms in the plan. From October the Philosophical Institute (later Royal Society) of Victoria and the press agitated against the museum's removal from town and probable control by the university. In July 1856 the institute ungraciously allowed McCoy to read part of a paper in which he advocated a museum for scientific research and education but not idle shows, and appointment of a director. In August, after a public meeting of protest and unsure of government resolve, McCoy boldly carried off the collection to the newly-completed university rooms. His de facto control ended in December 1857 when he was gazetted "Director of the Museum of Natural and Applied Sciences", an office he held without salary until 1899 ... He fought to hold the museum at the university and in 1862 negotiated an agreement between the university and the government for a building in the university grounds. The National Museum ... was opened in 1864' ('Australian Dictionary of Biography'). John Macadam (1827-1865) was honorary secretary of the Burke and Wills expedition and namesake of the macadamia nut. Ferguson 11809 ('Sewn').
Item #147147
Sold