FIRE DANGER IN COUNTRY MUSEUMS
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sra,—The destruction by fire of the Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford-on-Avon, and the narrow escape of the Library and Museum, directs attention almost inevitably to the housing of many, valuable and irreplaceable treasures in the smaller
museums throughout the country ; more especially museums remote from towns, and where fire brigades are not at imme- diate call. As an instance, there is the Burns Museum at Alloway Cottage, where the Museum and the caretaker's dwelt ling are under one continuous roof, with no dividing gable between, rising through and above the roof ; and to increase the danger the lower roof slope is carried along its whole length as an open veranda supported by rustic wood posts, thus placing the museum under domestic fire risk ; a risk which no museum should be asked to bear... .
Inside the museum are many exhibits, and in only one instance, that of the £1,700_ Bible of the Poet, is an exhibi- kept day and night in a fire-proof exhibition safe. Yet, in the many. Wood eases aroturcl are articles of infinitely greater intrinsic Value -than that which' has come ,to. ,be called the- " 21,700 Bible,':" all exposed to risk of destruction by fire and. water. In an ordinary wood case next the entrance door are kept the invaluable" CommOn Place Book '-' of the Poet ; his : MSS. poems presented to Mrs. General Stewart ; . his father's. Bible,--the old Bible of "The Cotter's Saturday Night " ; the. MSS. of "The Jolly Beggars," " The Brigs of .Ayr," and ." Lord: Gregory ", ; together with a published volume of his poems' presented to his daughter, Elizabeth Burns, with its accom- panying touching inscription. All of these are exposed in this one insecure case to possible irretrievable destruction.
May I venture to suggest that these named irreplaceable reasures, with others, if not soon better- housed in an exhibi- tion fire-proof case, might each at least be placed in a light metal box with a glass lid, and removed nightly, without detri- ment to the wear and tear of the exhibit, to a fire-proof safe for security? It is generally understood that Mr. John Gribbel gave £8,000 for the two volumes of the Glenriddel Manuscripts, which he bought when the Liverpool Athenaeum exposed them for sale, and generously presented to Scotland. If these volumes are worth £8,000, how much more are both the " Com- mon Place Book "and the" Stewart Volume "—even in money 1.,alue---Awhich has at best and after all but little real sig- nificance?
The museum is literally craMmed With .irreplaCeable Bums treasures, yet they are held at daily risk of destruction. Curious& enough, the very fine collection of Burns hooks, MSS., and other things in the Kilmarnock Museum are in very similar danger, as is also the Museum itself. Its partially open ground floor is used as a gardener's shed or lumber store ; and above it is the Museum proper consisting of two floors con- nected by a light open wood stair ; the stair, the, exhibition cases, the wall and ceiling linings being all of wood—end that wood pitch pine ! It is in no Captious spirit that I write, but to direct attention to a matter which—to me at least—call= urgently for immediate remedy.-7—I am, Sir, &c.,
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Wellington Chambers, Ayr, N.B. JAMES A. MORRIS.
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