ABSTRACT
Frank Markham's main thrust, however, as in Henry Miers's report, was that museums should strengthen their educational purpose through exhibitions, loans, improved displays, outreach work and increased cooperation with schools, adult education bodies and education authorities. In 1939, even as war approached, Markham and the Museums Association (MA) approached the President of the Board of Education at that time, De La Warr, seeking his support for his proposal that a Royal Commission should be established to review non-national museums. Studies of the effectiveness of wartime propaganda on civilian morale show that the government needed to adopt a more collaborative approach to meet the circumstances of total war. A small number of official war artists were appointed on salaried posts but the Committee also commissioned work on specific subjects from individual artists and encouraged professional or amateur artists, whether serving or civilian, to submit works on wartime subjects for the Committee's selection and purchase.
