ABSTRACT
In the history of museums, the Second World War is generally described as a period in which very little of significance occurred. The narrative centres on the epic, and ultimately unsuccessful, struggles of the Museums Association to persuade successive governments to extend central government funding from the national museums to provincial museum services. Successive approaches were made to the government, mostly brokered by Frank Markham using his political connections. The period of the Second World War is generally thought to have been a hiatus separating a series of promising developments in the 1930s from the reality of a fragmented post-war recovery, with few significant developments occurring during the war itself. Precious objects were stored away, staff numbers reduced and museums were subject to closure and, in the longer term, plans for reconstruction were delayed until the 1960s due to the destruction and economic cost of the conflict.
