Transcribed from the 1872 George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode edition by David Price. SCIENCE AND ART DEPARTMENT OF THE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL ON EDUCATION. * * * * * * * * * * BETHNAL GREEN BRANCH OF THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM. * * * * * A BRIEF GUIDE TO THE FOOD COLLECTION. (_FIRST ISSUE_.) [Picture: Decorative graphic] LONDON: PRINTED BY GEORGE E. EYRE AND WILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE, PRINTERS TO THE QUEEN’S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. FOR HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE. 1872. * * * * * _Price One Penny_. 29951. THE BETHNAL GREEN BRANCH OF THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM. UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE LORDS OF THE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL ON EDUCATION. Lord President, THE MARQUESS OF RIPON, K.G. Vice-President, THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER, M.P. * * * * * I. In tracing the origin of the Branch Museum of Science and Art at Bethnal Green it will be necessary to refer, though briefly, to the early days of the parent institution, at South Kensington, from whence a considerable portion of the new edifice and of its contents have been derived. II. The South Kensington Museum stands on 12 acres of land, acquired by the Government at a cost of 60,000_l._, being a portion of the estate purchased by Her Majesty’s Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851, out of the surplus proceeds of that undertaking. III. Here, in 1855, a spacious building was constructed, chiefly of iron and wood, under the superintendence of the late Sir William Cubitt, C.E., at a cost of 15,000_l._, intended to receive several miscellaneous collections of a scientific character mainly acquired from the Exhibition of 1851, and which had been temporarily housed in various places. IV. In addition to the collections already alluded to, the whole of the Fine Art collections which had been exhibited at Marlborough House since 1852 were also removed thither, and these were supplemented by numerous and valuable loans by Her Majesty the Queen and others.