ABSTRACT
The Miers and Markham Reports had an important impact on museum practice, even though the government did not accept their core recommendation to establish a central, government-funded, national museum service. Civic museums are perceived as being elements in the power structures of society. The Markham Report offered suggestions to help existing museums to create a more community-based service. In his report, Markham offered a new vision for provincial museums to counter the general popular perception of museums as mausoleums full of miscellaneous dusty items. In order to achieve the cultural emancipation of society, Markham argued for using visual education methods to illustrate 'the museum of ideas' through the contextual display of objects. The inter-war museum reports had proposed that museums develop links with rural regeneration, agriculture and the land to enhance knowledge about nutrition and the benefits of outdoor life and to reinforce a sense of national identity.
