Title
Folder entitled 'Claim of Higher Staff of the Science Museum to Improve Salary Scales - History - Re-grading 1935' containing folders of memos and other papers relating to staff pay and museum administration between 1909 and 1935
Reference
CORP/SCM/Z/167/01
Production date
1909 - 1935
Creator
- Science Museum, LondonBiographyBiography
The Science Museum, London has it has its origins in the Great Exhibition of 1851, held in Hyde Park in the huge glass building known as the Crystal Palace. In 1857, South Kensington Museum opened on the site of what is now Victoria and Albert Museum. In 1862 the Science collections move to separate buildings on Exhibition Road and in the 1880s a Science library is established, with a Science Collections director appointed in 1893.
In 1909, when the new buildings were opened, the title was confined to the Art Collections. The Science and Engineering Collections were finally separated administratively and the name 'Science Museum', in informal use since 1885, was officially adopted. It was on June 26th that year that the institutional reorganisation into two independent institutions was ratified and the title "Science Museum" was officially bestowed.
A change in the underlying philosophy of the Science Museum can be said to date from about 1960. The emphasis began to shift from technical education informed by historical exposition, to a more broadly-based policy of preservation of historical artefacts placed in their historical and social context.
The history of the Science Museum over the last 150 years has been one of continual change. The exhibition galleries are never static for long, as they have to reflect and comment on the increasing pace of change in science, technology,
industry and medicine. Even if this sometimes means the removal of some wellloved objects to store, we can be certain that some of their modern replacements will become cherished in turn.
Scope and Content
File labelled "Claim of Higher Staff of the Science Museum to Improved Salary Scales - History - Re-grading 1935". Contains multiple subfolders:
- Separation of Science Collections from V&A Museum 1909 and Regrading of V&A Museum 1921 - memo about stationery/headed paper; memo re annual corrections of descriptions of work and organisation, noting 1909 is the first year the Science Museum is separate from the V&A; memo re re-organisation of the establishment of Higher Technical Posts in the V&A and Bethnal Green Museums.
- 1921 Regrading of Science Museum - Health Committee report on salaries 30 March 1921; correspondence between the Board of Education and Treasury on staffing re-organisation and observations on it by Sir Henry Lymes; correspondence relating to appeals against agreed salary levels; correspondence pertaining to separation of V&A Science and Art staff, their titles and conditions.
- 1921 Protest by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu (British Science Guild) - Science Museum salary scheme seen as inferior to those of V&A and Natural History Museum.
- Support of Four Presidents 1921, 1932, 1924 - correspondence from F.H. Oates, Edward Wood, Charles Trevelyan, and E.G. Howarth [?] about salary levels for Science Museum Higher Staff; letter from Higher Staff themselves objecting to salary scales.
- 1926 Case re-opened, Support of Secretary BoE, Treasury Refusal - correspondence re-addressing the salary scales of Science Museum Higher Staff.
- 1927 Arbitration - documents relating to the Science Museum Arbitration Case before The Industrial Court for the Civil Service, including court decision.
- Sir Henry Lyons memo Sept 1933, Staff memo 1934 - on the development of the Science Museum from 1920-1933.
- July 1934 Minute to Secretary enclosing Staff Memo to Feb 1934 Treasure Refusal - relating to the ongoing dispute over salary scales for Science Museum staff compared to the V&A and Natural History Museum staff.
- Negotiations Leading to Regrading 1 Oct 1935, Assimilation etc - correspondence and reports relating to the ongoing dispute over Science Museum salary scales, with particular reference to Assistant Keeper roles.
- Director's Salary - correspondence dated 1935-1938.
- Loose spreadsheet listing staff names and their pay levels from 1933 to 1965 and salaries on retirement. Handwritten document stamped with an official seal.
Extent
1 folder
Language
English
Level of description
FILE
Repository name
Science Museum, London
Associated people and organisations
- Victoria and Albert MuseumBiographyBiography
The Victoria and Albert Museum, often referred to as the V&A, has its origins in the Great Exhibition of 1851, which the museum's first director, Henry Cole, was involved in planning. It was initially known as the Museum of Manufactures and first opened in May 1852 at Marlborough House, but by September had been transferred to Somerset House. At this stage the collections covered both applied art and science. Several of the exhibits from the Great Exhibition were purchased to form the nucleus of the collection. Henry Cole declared that the Museum should be a “schoolroom for everyone”, with the mission of improving the standards of British industry by educating designers, manufacturers and consumers in art and science. Acquiring and displaying the best examples of art and design contributed to this, as did the construction of the museum’s buildings themselves, which were also intended to demonstrate exemplary design and decoration.
By February 1854 discussions were underway to transfer the museum to the current site at South Kensington and it was renamed South Kensington Museum. The official opening by Queen Victoria was on 20 June 1857. In these early years the practical use of the collection was very much emphasised and the first Keeper of the Fine Art Collection, George Wallis, passionately promoted the idea of wide art education through the museum collections. This led to the transfer to the museum of the School of Design that had been founded in 1837 at Somerset House. After the transfer it was referred to as the Art School or Art Training School and later became the Royal College of Art, achieving full independence from the V&A in 1949.
From the 1860s to the 1880s the V&A’s scientific collections were moved from the main museum site to various improvised galleries to the west of Exhibition Road. In 1893 the Science Museum effectively came into existence when a separate director was appointed, though construction did not commence on the Science Museum building until 1914.
The laying of the foundation stone of the Aston Webb building (to the left of the main entrance) on 17 May 1899 was the last official public appearance by Queen Victoria. It was during this ceremony that the change of name from 'South Kensington Museum' to 'Victoria and Albert Museum' was made public.
On the outbreak of the Second World War, most of the collection was sent to a quarry in Wiltshire, to Montacute House in Somerset, or to a tunnel near Aldwych tube station, with larger items remaining in situ, sand-bagged and bricked in. Some of the V&A’s galleries and spaces were used to support the war effort. After the war ended and before the collections returned to the museum, the Britain Can Make It exhibition was held between September and November 1946. This attracted nearly a million-and-a-half visitors and its success led to the planning of the Festival of Britain in 1951.
Today, the V&A is the world’s leading museum of art and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.3 million objects that span over 5,000 years of human creativity. The Museum holds many of the UK's national collections and houses some of the greatest resources for the study of architecture, furniture, fashion, textiles, photography, sculpture, painting, jewellery, glass, ceramics, book arts, Asian art and design, theatre and performance.
Conditions governing access
Material is available to researchers through the relevant Science Museum Group archive centre.
Conditions governing Reproduction
Copies may be supplied in accordance with current copyright legislation and Science Museum Group terms and conditions.