'Surplus Ethnographical Material'

The files in this series refer to the dispersal of unwanted ethnographic material from the Willesden store which was vacated after the Second World War. The material was temporarily transferred to the British Museum, which was first allowed to choose any material for its collections, through its representative HJ Braunholz, who also advised on the dispersal in general. A quantity of material was also sent to the Liverpool Museum, which had lost much of its collection due to bomb damage during the War. The rest of the material was disposed of in what have become known as the 'ten distributions' which took place between 1919 and 1954. On each occasion a circular letter was sent out to the curators of selected British museums inviting them to attend on a particular day to select items for their collections. The material left at the end of each distribution, known as the 'residue', was often sold to a dealer, KA Webster. At the end of all ten distributions, however, there was still a very large quantity of material left and much of this was offered to institutions abroad.

1943-1956

3 Boxes

WHMM