Department details

The Museums and Galleries Commission (MGC) was originally established as the Standing Commission on Museums and Galleries in 1931, in accordance with the recommendations of the Final Report of the Royal Commission on National Museums and Galleries (Cmd. 3401) of 1929. In September 1981 the Commission was renamed and given new functions. It was a registered charity and was incorporated under a Royal Charter which came into effect on 1 January 1987.1

The MGC comprised 15 unpaid Commissioners appointed by the Prime Minister together with 46 professional staff (in 1999). It was funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (formerly the Department of National Heritage) and was responsible for giving advice on museum and gallery affairs to the UK government, including the Department of Education for Northern Ireland, the Scottish Office and the Welsh Office. It also advised the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Arts Council of England on museum and gallery related lottery applications. Its aims included promoting the interests of museums and galleries; advising institutions, developing agreed standards of good practice and encouraging the adoption of these standards; and raising standards through the administration of grant schemes. In the financial year 1998-1999 the MGC had a budget of £14 million. More than 80% of its funding was distributed in grant form.2

The MGC had the following functions, in addition to its advisory role:3

• Allocating grants to the seven Area Museum Councils in England and monitoring the work of the ten Area Museum Councils in the UK.
• Funding the work of mda (formerly known as the Museum Documentation Association) in supporting the information management needs of museums, galleries and heritage organisations, and channelling funds to Tyne and Wear Museums and the Cultural Heritage National Training Institute (formerly the Museum Training Institute).4
• Administering its own grant schemes for non-national museums, including an International Travel Grants scheme (to foster contacts between UK and overseas museums), and a Conservation Grants scheme (to promote standards of conservation and collection care).5
• Running the Sharing Museum Skills Millennium Awards Scheme (funded by the Millennium Commission), which financed secondments for paid and voluntary staff in UK museums.6
• Advising the government and museums on the security of museums and exhibits.
• Administering the Government Indemnity Scheme for loans to non-national museums and galleries and the system for accepting heritage objects in lieu of Inheritance Tax, and providing advice to the government on private treaty sales.
• Providing information and advice on museum conservation matters, and managing a Conservation Register providing information on conservation practices which met agreed standards of operation.

The MGC also ran a voluntary Registration Scheme for museums which set out minimum standards to be met by institutions in the areas of collection care, public services and museum management. The first phase of this scheme was introduced in 1988, and the second phase, with enhanced standards and updated guidelines, was launched in 1995. Some 1,700 museums had achieved Registration standard by 1999. A Designation Scheme was operated by the MGC in which Designated status was awarded to non-national Registered museums with "pre-eminent collections of national and international importance" (43 governing bodies representing 51 museums or museum services had Designated collections by April 1999). From 1999-2000 museums with Designated collections were eligible for grants from a Designation Challenge Fund administered by the MGC. The MGC developed an on-line database of Designated collections, Cornucopia, which was due to be extended, in 2000, to cover the collections of all Registered museums.

Two purchase grant funds, the MGC/V&A Purchase Grant Fund and the Preservation of Industrial and Scientific Material (PRISM) Fund, were administered on behalf of the MGC by the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Science Museum respectively.7

In December 1998 the Department for Culture, Media and Sport announced plans to replace the MGC and the Library and Information Commission (LIC) with a new body to be known as the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. This body was launched in April 2000; shortly afterwards, it was renamed Resource: the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries. Resource is responsibile for the strategic direction of the museums, libraries and archives sectors in the UK, inheriting the responsibilities of the MGC and the LIC.8

Digest of Museum Statistics (DOMUS): reference CRDA/12

DOMUS was an annual survey of UK museums conducted by the Museums and Galleries Commission between 1994 and 1999. It gathered data on topics such as numbers of visitors, opening hours, museum facilities and the types of collections held by museums. NDAD holds three datasets representing the data gathered in DOMUS from its inception to its conclusion. The final dataset also contains data on the administration of the MGC's Registration Scheme for museums. See the Series Catalogue for further details.

The National Archives holds records of the MGC and the Standing Commission on Museums and Galleries in classes with the prefix EB.

For further information on the work of Resource and its predecessors, the MGC and LIC, contact Resource, 16 Queen Anne's Gate, London SW1H 9AA, or visit Resource's web site.

1. Public Record Office, Public Record Office Current Guide (Kew: Public Record Office, 1996), Part 1, section 924/1/1; Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone, ed., Halsbury's Laws of England, 4th ed (London: Butterworth's, 1979), vol 28, p. 217.

2. Michael Wright, ed, Museums Yearbook 1997/98 (London: Museums Association, 1997), p.323; Cabinet Office, The 31st Civil Service Year Book 1998/99 (London: Stationery Office, 1998), col. 829; Museums and Galleries Commission web site, page on "The Role of the MGC" (http://www.museums.gov.uk/mgc/role/intro.html), consulted on 20 April 1999.

3. On the MGC's functions in general, see Cabinet Office, The 31st Civil Service Year Book 1998/99 (London: Stationery Office, 1998), col. 829; Wright, ed, Museums Yearbook 1997/98, p. 323; Museums and Galleries Commission web site, page on "The Role of the MGC" (http://www.museums.gov.uk/mgc/role/intro.html), consulted on 20 April 1999.

4. Web site of mda, page "About mda" (http://www.mdocassn.demon.co.uk/mdaabout.htm), consulted on 20 April 1999; web site of the Cultural Heritage National Training Institute, home page (http://www.chnto.co.uk/CHNTO.htm), consulted on 20 April 1999.

5. Museums and Galleries Commission web site, page on "MGC Conservation Grants" (http://www.museums.gov.uk/mgc/advice/grants/conservation.html), and page on "International Travel Grants" (http://www.museums.gov.uk/mgc/advice/grants/travel.html), consulted on 20 April 1999.

6. Museums and Galleries Commission web site, page on "The Role of the MGC" (http://www.museums.gov.uk/mgc/role/intro.html), page on "MGC Grants Programme 1999-2000" (http://www.museums.gov.uk/advice/grants/intro.html), consulted on 20 April 1999.

7. Museums and Galleries Commission web site, page on "The Role of the MGC" (http://www.museums.gov.uk/mgc/role/intro.html), page on "MGC Grants Programme 1999-2000" (http://www.museums.gov.uk/advice/grants/intro.html), page on "Challenge Funds" (http://www.museums.gov.uk/advice/grants/challenge.html), page on "MGC/V&A Purchase Grant Fund" (http://www.museums.gov.uk/advice/grants/pgf.html), page on "Preservation of Industrial & Scientific Material Fund" (http://www.museums.gov.uk/advice/grants/prism.html), and page on "UK Museums" (http://www.museums.gov.uk/museums/overview/intro.html), consulted on 20 April 1999; web site of Cornucopia, page on "Introduction" (http://www.cornucopia.org.uk/intro.html), consulted on 20 April 1999.

8. Department for Culture, Media and Sport web site, page on "A New Cultural Framework" (http://www.culture.gov.uk/TEXTDSR.HTM), consulted on 5 February 1999.