The detailed history of museums has not been attempted much in India, but I had an inkling that such a detailed study might throw considerable light on development of the museum as an institution in our country. I also felt that the Madras Museum, which was in its 15th decade at that time, could be an ideal starting point for such a study because it had been carefully of the Madras Museum. The grant made searching for records and information in the Tamil Nadu State Archives, the Asiatic Society in Calcutta, and in the Madras Museum itself.