Indian Museum - History

History

This was the first museum of its kind in Asia. The Indian museum rose from the Asiatic Society of Bengal which was created by Sir William Jones in 1784. Many relics and curiosities were sent in initially and the space required was granted by the Government of India between Park Street and Chowringhee.

In February 2, 1814, Dr Nathaniel Wallich wrote a letter supporting the formation of a museum in Calcutta which he said should have two sections - an archaeological, ethnological and technical section and a geological and zoological one. Wallich offered his services to the Society and some items from his own collections. The Society heartily supported the proposal and resolved to set up a museum and to appoint Wallich to be the Honorary Curator and then Superintendent of the Oriental Museum of the Asiatic Society. Dr. Nathaniel Wallich took charge of the Museum on June 1, 1814. The Museum thus inaugurated, thrived rapidly under the guidance of its enthusiastic founder Wallich and individual collectors. Most of them were Europeans except a solitary Indian, Babu Ramkamal Sen, initially a Collector and later the first Indian Secretary to the Asiatic Society. Wallich was not only the enthusiastic founder and the first Curator of the Indian Museum, he was one of the largest donors to the Museum at its inception. Out of one hundred seventy four items donated to the Museum till 1816, Nathaniel Wallich donated forty-two botanical specimens.

After the resignation of Dr Wallich, curators were paid salaries ranging from Rs 50 to Rs 200 a month. Until 1836 this salary was paid by the Asiatic Society but in that year its bankers, Palmer and Company became insolvent and the Government began to pay from its public funds. A temporary grant of Rs 200 per month was sanctioned for maintenance of the museum and library, and Dr J. T. Pearson of the Bengal Medical Service was appointed curator followed shortly by Dr John McClelland and after his resignation by Edward Blyth. In 1840, the Government took a keen interest in the geology and mineral resources and this led to an additional grant of Rs 250 per month for the geological section alone. A new building became a need and this was designed by Walter R Granville and completed in 1875 for the cost of Rs 1,40,000. In 1879 it received a portion of the collection from the India Museum (South Kensington) when that collection was dispersed.

The Zoological and Anthropological sections of the museum gave rise to the Zoological Survey of India in 1916, which in turn gave rise to the Anthropological Survey of India in 1945.