| AdminHistory | In 1912, the extended Art Gallery was opened. That November, the existing committee was split up (see BCC/1/BA Museum and School of Art Committee minutes), and a new Museum and Art Gallery Committee formed, with the same remit as its predecessor, except that the municipal School of Art and its Department had now been passed to the care of the Education Committee (see BCC/1/BH).
The committee was not only supported by its own Museum and Art Gallery Department, but also by a new Natural History Department. Further, for financial purposes, there appears to be separate accounts for Aston Hall and its staff. The committee continued avidly to collect by gift, loan or purchase paintings and other ephemera, particularly in support the Natural History Department. The committee minutes contain lists of such acquisitions, which by 1914 were valued at some £230,000. In June 1914, the Museum experienced its first major case of vandalism, as a suffragette slashed paintings in the gallery and many items were removed from display and placed in strong rooms during the First World War, for fear of air-raids. Although 1920 saw the keeper of the collections, Mr Whitworth Wallis, now knighted, reach retirement age, his services were retained until his death in January 1927, after a total of over 41 years' service.
In October 1931, a small Historical Museum was opened as a branch museum in Cannon Hill Park and in 1932, Blakesley Hall, Yardley, was assigned to the Museum and Art Gallery Committee, which hoped to receive items found during archaeological excavations that were progressing at Weoley Castle, and undertaken by the Public Works Committee. In 1933, an extension was completed to the Art Gallery, and the Egyptian antiquities were moved from Aston Hall for exhibition to the public. In early 1935, the small Chamberlain Memorial Museum (now Library) was opened at Highbury Hall. In 1936, the committee took on the responsibility for supervising ancient buildings in the city.
The museums remained open in 1939 at the outbreak of the Second World War, but the Central Museum and Art Gallery and Highbury Museum were closed in May 1940 for the duration of the war, although other museums remained open. Immediately after the war moves were made to collect further material and open a museum dedicated to science and industry. The Boulton and Watt collection was offered and a site in Newhall Street was leased in 1950, but it was not until 1953 that the museum was fully open.
The committee became more involved in sponsoring archaeological programmes throughout the 1950s, including those outside the city, in locations such as Wroxeter and even Jericho. The committee also assisted other museums outside the city and continued to loan material for exhibitions. In 1956, the committee took over responsibility for the ruins of Weoley Castle and a small museum opened there in 1963. In 1958 the committee received one of its most famous exhibits, a Spitfire aircraft, which was followed by a Hurricane, although it was a few years before they could be exhibited.
In June 1963, the committee agreed in principle to take over Sarehole Mill from the Parks Department, and in June 1964, the first Schools Liaison Officer was appointed. In 1965, the Council purchased one of its major collections, the Pinto Collection and work started on a major rebuild of the Science Museum site at Newhall Street. Taking several years to complete, it allowed for the display of the newly donated ‘City of Birmingham’ locomotive (donated by British Railways) in the new locomotive hall from the following June. In June 1967, a restoration project was commenced for the preservation of Sarehole Mill, which continued into the following year. In June 1968, the Museums and Art Gallery Committee was merged with the Public Libraries Committee (see BCC/1/DG Library and Museum Committee). |