ABSTRACT
Many parallels can be established between the way museums grew in Great Britain and in the United States of America. The longing for 'cottages in the country' is also part of American cultural myth, connected to the American middle-classes' modern escape from the inner cities to detached houses, and this was influential in choosing a location for art museums as well. Museum provision in the USA took time to develop because it started, as in the UK, without the helpful shortcut of simply opening historic palaces holding dynastic collections. The reputation of the Corcoran Gallery prompted other typical collectors of the American school and the Paris Salonistes to create analogous museums in their cities; but, similarly, their initial specialisation would be haphazard and ephemeral, tapering off little by little as subsequent gifts arrived. While many galleries d'auteur in Europe were kept more or less unchanged, in the US even small museums run by private foundations broke from their early history.
