ABSTRACT
The British Museum is not a Government department, but a quango. Although the British Museum has been hailed as 'the first national, public, secular museum' in the world, its concept of public was at first limited. The Victoria and Albert Museum is still much more closely associated with art and design education than the British Museum, though secondary school art and design education is now one of the fastest growing areas of the British Museum Education Service's work. The British Museum does send travelling exhibitions, and with increased resources could do a great deal more. In 1971, Peter Wingfield Digby carried out visitor surveys at the British Museum, the Science Museum and the National Maritime Museum. One of the priorities of the British Museum Education Service in the 1980s has been to develop a greater interest in the non-European world and multicultural Britain among the 'general' public, schools and colleges, and teachers in training.
