The formative years of the Madras Museum
Retired Director of Museums, Tamil Nadu
The detailed history of museums has not been attempted much in India, but I had an inkling that such a detailed study may 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 groomed through the years of its existence to attain an eminent position in its field. The first award from the NTICVA to me was meant to carry out such a study of the first gfive decades 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. Astonishing details, not known earlier, emerged from the study portraying the dedicated service of its Officers-in-Charge in developing the Museum from scratch. This study and the report emanating from it proved to be so rewarding that I was encouraged to apply for a second award in 1999-2000 for studying the second fifty years of the Museum, i.e. from 1901 to 1951. This request was also granted, and I sent the report entitled " Good going. Madras Museum: the Developing Decades" for the second award in February 2001. The reading I had to do for both reports enlarged my understanding of the museum as an institution in our country since I also studied at the same time material about other museums especially the Indian Museum, Calcutta. This has given me an idea of preparing a history of the museum movement in India and its cultural implications. The Madras Museum completed 150 years this April (2001) and I propose to prepare also an updated history of this museum. Since completing the first award I have been selected for a Senior Fellowship of the Department of Culture of the Ministry of Human Resource Development of the Government of India for listing the Colonial Heritage Buildings of Chennai.