'All Will be Amply Labelled…' The Educational Policies and Practices of the Horniman Free Museum

Abstract

This work examines the policies and educational programming produced by the Horniman Free Museum in London prior to its closure in 1898. Relying upon primary sources, such as the writings of tea merchant and Member of Parliament Frederick Horniman and the staff of the museum, this article refutes previous scholarship on this museum and argues that the museum possessed a clear mission, curatorial and exhibition practices, and educational practices that were derived from late nineteenth-century museum practices and theory. By examining how the Horniman Free Museum created and described its policies and programming, this article presents a basis for further work on understanding how late nineteenth-century museums interpreted museum theory for constructing and displaying knowledge about the world.

Keywords

• museum education
• museum history
• nineteenth-century museum theory
• horniman museum
• museum labels