Collecting the world

A hoard, a sculpture and a group of natural specimens can reach a museum by very different paths. Room 2 brings the collectors and those paths into view. Its displays explain how the British Museum grew as a collection of collections. The Museum was founded in 1753 and opened in 1759. Its early holdings included books, natural history and handmade objects, before later institutional changes separated some of those subjects. This room itself once displayed manuscripts, when the Museum still housed the library collections. Choose one group of objects and follow the account of who assembled it. A collector’s interests, money and contacts affected what was kept together. Gifts and purchases then moved those selections into a public institution. The room gives you a useful question to carry into other galleries. How did this particular object get here?