Talk:British Museum

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To-do list for British Museum: edit  · history  · watch  · refresh
  • Expand the subsections on each department with information pertaining to interesting histories - important curators / archaeologists / donors associated with them could be noted.
  • Hotlink remaining sections to Wikipedia Articles

* Create some columns for placing the collection listings in, so doing away with the lengthy lists, please see National Gallery, London page for example.

  • Tidy-up the British Museum categories to reflect the:
  • Oxus Treasure
  • Collosal Bust of Rameses II
  • King's Library

--ImperialCollegeGrad 11:42, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
Priority 2

There should be some information about the rebuilding of the Great Court, the computer-designed glass roof with its hundreds of triangular glass panels each differing slightly in shape, and the row about the use of the "wrong kind of stone" in its porticos

Err, there is a Qur'an, which dates from less than one hundred years after the death of Muhammad. One of the oldest, if not the oldest in the world. --[[User:Irishpunktom|Irishpunktom\talk]] 21:43, Jan 16, 2005 (UTC)

Yes, but is this a printed book, or a manuscript (codex)? There are, of course, older manuscripts and codices--many owned by the British Museum (British Library) itself--but this article is specifically referring to the oldest PRINTED book (incunabula). 66.108.4.183 22:22, 7 May 2006 (UTC) Allen Roth

Contents

[edit] Artifact Controversy?

I was under the impression many of the relics in the British Museum were highly controversial as they had been "stolen" from other nations without permission. Does anyone know if this is really the case? --Robbyslaughter 13:50, 20 May 2005 (UTC)

I've deleted some text from the Criticism/Controversy section. I didn't do this to push either POV, but simply because I thought the section was starting to ramble and descend into a 'some say...but others counter' style debate, which is poor form for an encyc. So I just leave the strongest, cited arguments from both sides. Ashmoo 05:03, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Echo in the Reading Room

Does a joke, even a Hoffnung joke, really belong here? Daibhid C 23:41, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

Ah, it's gone. Daibhid C 14:53, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Article quality decline

This article has suffered a severe degradation of quality recently with unedited chunks of text and poor pic placement - compare it to the version of 26 December 2006. Not sure whether it is best to do a harsh revert to a much earlier version or a selective cleanup. Can all interested parties pitch in with a cleanup. Thanks, --mervyn 20:40, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Degradation

Thank you for the comment concerning the British Museum.

The previous article that was set in place on 26/12/2006 had inaccuracies that required remedy.

Context:

Some of the concerns included: a) The department headings were incorrect. b) The summary information of the individual Museum departments versus those for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Musee du Louvre (in French) were inadequate. c) The pictures on the site were not referenced appropriately nor conveyed a sense of the Museum. d) The general information contained in the site including the department, collection, trivia and gallery as well as information about the Museum were inaccurate and not representative of the Museum. e) No references were used to support any of the claims.

Edition

I've begun editing the website to properly reflect the nature of the British Museum. For the most part I haven't included summaries of the changes I have made due mainly to small minor changes in positioning items. Going forward I will include more extant summaries of the changes for all to check against.

Also, I have focused entirely on the Department information, therefore the surrounding information is for the most part untouched except for the Gallery, Trivia and References.

The picture positioning is a sense of concern and would like assistance in how to deal with these.

The Department information is still very much in development and is being edited enhanced on a daily basis until there is sufficient information available.

I'm very happy to work alongside people to ensure that The British Museum Wikipedia link is satisfactory, full of information and a testament to the overall excellance of the free resource available to the public.

--ImperialCollegeGrad 23:29, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Great - let's work on improvements. Picture positioning and text formatting looks like a good start point. --mervyn 09:29, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Excellent

Hey thanks for helping, this is my first Wikipedia project and am learning along the way.

I'm really into Art Museums and Archeology, and one thing I despise is claims without reference. So have tried to compare, contrast and add content to make the article comprehensive whilst giving ample note to other collections.

I've just started on the Collections section since that is my strength area having been to the Museum 1000's of times during university, a couple of years back. I know the Collection content requires editing however will get around to that once the majority of the information I've destined to include is published.

Also, I have to add hot links to other Wikipedia sites - but not sure how to? any suggestions?

Afterwards I will turn my attention to the remaining article, to compliment the excellent content already there.

It'll be great sourcing your advice and proof-read.

Cheers Muj

[edit] Departments section - cleanup needed

In the "Departments" section there are still major problems after recent edits -- such as:

  • non-standard formatting eg blocks of body text in italics (follow WP:MOS)
  • awkward image positioning
  • excessive amount of detail - note that it is an encyclopedia article so should be concise and edited for the general reader
  • In particular, the long lists of comparisons with other museums seem out of place

Hope this helps to show where work is needed. --mervyn 12:07, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Explanations and Assistance

Thx bud, I'm all happy for you help sort out the formatting since it looks better with the alterations.

When I look at other wikipedia links like The Louvre, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louvre for instance, the picture placement is really bad. So I've tried to a) change the pictures such that they are a lot more informative (as I go there regularly and can take loads of snaps, which are for free usage by anyone) and b) put them in such a way as to make the page appear better.

Department Information Please be aware that this needs work, for which I am actively working on, there are sections for the departments that require more informative information, there is information in some sections for which I haven't yet edited, e.g. Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas.

In terms of excessive information, versus say The Metropolitan Museum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Museum, the information contained in the Departments is a lot less.

The comparison between museums is something I've done a lot of research on and I'm yet to find any website or book that details the direct comparisons between holdings which is so important to a) validate claims whilst giving enough information for those wanting to see other collections.

I would really like to keep this, yes we can format it better - but I r4eally think this is important as it substantiates the information.

Thanks for the message.

--ImperialCollegeGrad 16:09, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Your desire to substantiate all the article's claims is definitely to be applauded! In order to do so without bogging the article down with figures, may I suggest moving the italicised sections, which the majority of readers will skim over, to an appendix? It could perhaps be titled British Museum (statistics in relation to other collections) or some such, though something snappier would be preferable. There is a precedent of sorts in the page Holocaust (resources), which serves as the bibliography section for the article The Holocaust but is a list of substantial length in itself. Giving those lists a dedicated page will keep the footnotes section of the main article at a more reasonable size, and we could then concentrate our efforts on translating the remaining lists (of objects in each department) into prose. What do you think? [talk to the] HAM 20:32, 13 January 2007 (UTC)
Thanks for the advice, in principle your suggestions sounds great...but how would it work? how do you create a new page? and how would it link to the main article? also I don't understand what you mean by "translating the remaining lists (of objects in each department) into prose"? I do like the new look of the page, it does require some additional work however the structure and content is more original and encyclopedic now. --ImperialCollegeGrad 16:09, 13 January 2007 (UTC)
Sorry for the delay in answering; I've been very busy for the past few days. Creating a new page is easy – just type the title you want into the search field on the left-hand side of any page on the wiki; then, on the page that comes up, click the red link create this page. Perhaps consider using this method to create a page for the King's Library as well – after all, devoting 8 paragraphs to a single room is overkill unless it's in an article that's solely about that room. (Compare with the article for the British Museum Reading Room, only 5 paragraphs long.)
As regards linking to the page I'm proposing (British Museum (statistics), or BM (stats) for short), this is how it could be done: whenever the main article text makes a claim like "The British Museum houses the world's largest and most comprehensive collection of Egyptian antiquities outside the Egyptian Museum in Cairo", it could be followed with a footnote advising the user to See British Museum (statistics)#Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan. This would take him/her to the section of BM (stats) on that particular department, where he/she would find the statistics substantiating the claim. The code for such a footnote would be:
<ref>See [[British Museum (statistics)#Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan]]</ref>
By "translating into prose" I mean rewriting the lists as paragraphs, because that is the preferred style in an encyclopaedia entry – it should read more like a summary than an inventory.
You create links to other pages with double square brackets, so for instance you'd type [[Age of Enlightenment]] to get Age of Enlightenment. If the word you want to form the link is different from the article title, [[Cycladic art|Cycladic]] will give you Cycladic, and so on. Hope this helps. [talk to the] HAM 20:10, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How to make additions to the Infobox

How do you make additions to the Infobix, because I have added a few more items and they aren't being reflected.

--81.106.79.133 13:06, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] British Museum or British Library?

Thanks for the info above and sorry for my delay. I've taken your idea of a new page for the King's Library on board have made a page for it using the title suggested, please check it out.

I'm ready to link the British Museum page to other articles but need to know what is the wikipedia standard for linking pages?, since any interesting word can be linked to other wikipedia articles.

Also, what is meant by the following line from above? "By "translating into prose" I mean rewriting the lists as paragraphs, because that is the preferred style in an encyclopaedia entry – it should read more like a summary than an inventory"

I need to think about the statistics a bit more carefully, as I kind of like them in the article, whereas in the Holocaust article there is much more information, and in particular Holocaust history is more comprehensive than that of the British Museum.

Finally, I think the history section needs a complete overhaul. If you read it, there is little reference to formation and growth of the museum, its excavations, world wars, individuals, but just about most of it mentions the British Library which is only a minor historical note. I am proposing a new history content, utilising some of the current content and moving the remaining, where applicable to the British Library page, or having a separate mentioning The British Library pre-1997. The new history section should be chronologically segmented to take into account 8-10 time periods where significant change occured followed by a short discourse about the growth of the museum and its collection. The majority of the collection history should be accompanied in the Departments section.

81.106.79.133 22:21, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't understand some of the above - unless you are User:M.chohan?. Can you sign in as a registered user and discuss please? Thanks. MarkThomas 14:28, 25 January 2007 (UTC)
Sorry forgot to sign in...can you be more specific about the above?
--ImperialCollegeGrad 16:30, 25 January 2007 (UTC)
Thanks - I didn't understand several paragraphs in your comments above, for example, what statistics are you referring to, and what is the relationship between that, the Holocaust and the British Museum that you comment on? Thanks. MarkThomas 16:33, 25 January 2007 (UTC)
No Problem...Basically I've performed quite a lot of research on different museums that make claims to the importance of their respective collections and have suggested them in the article. For example there are many global museums that have Egyptian collections, however some are great in their Anthropological content (i.e. Petrie Museum), some in Monumental Statuary (i.e. Museo Egizio), some in both (British Museum, Musee du Louvre & Egyptian Museum, Cairo). All have there own claims, however for purposes of standardisation I have merited each in terms of collection size. Therefore under the Departments Section for Egypt and Sudan, I have prosed the comparison in terms of other collection with supporting references. In a comment from a discussion point above it was suggested that this statistical analysis of comparative collections should be moved altogether to a new page, hence the Holocaust article. The Holocaust is a vast topic, which required a separate page to detail the bibliography and references. The British Museum isn't anywhere near as comprehensive a discussion point as the former thus can't see why another page needs to be made. It doesn't appeal to me, the uniqueness of this analysis makes the British Museum page a benchmark in authenticity versus other wikipedia museum pages, notably the Victoria & Albert Museum article makes many claims with reference and is a good example. Also, I would like to use hyper links for the museums compared in the British Museum article to support other articles.
This article is encyclopedic in coverage therefore isn't biased at supporting the Museum but giving ample information to correctly portray the Museum. Does this answer your question?
Cheers
Muj
--ImperialCollegeGrad 17:00, 25 January 2007 (UTC)
Hi Muj,
Glad as always to see that you have great plans for the article.
The aspects of the BM's history you mention should definitely be covered, although I have reservations about removing everything to do with the Library, even if only to a seperate, specialised article. Bear in mind that the character of the Museum has changed a few times during its history (look at Sloane's founding bequest – some 40,000 printed books, 7,000 manuscripts, extensive natural history specimens – neither books nor natural history is within the BM's remit today). Developments in the British Museum Library (until, of course, it broke away in 1973) deserve a place in a general history of the Museum because it had been such an integral part of the institution up to that point. (See how most of the floor space was dedicated to it in this 1904 map – the gallery space is shaded, the library space unshaded.) I agree with you, though, about adding chronological subsections within History and departmental history in Departments.
As regards the appendix I've been proposing, I realise that the comparison with Holocaust (resources) may not be very helpful, so I've created a very rough mock-up of what I have in mind in my userspace. I've already explained above how this would be linked to from the main article. The advantages of this method as I see it are that:
  • The main article is freed up of chunks of text that the reader is likely to skim over, thus improving the legibility and flow of the main article
  • The information appears not in blocks of text, but in bulleted lists, so it's easier to digest. Also, any errors (we all make them) would be spotted sooner if the information were presented in a more user-friendly manner.
  • Note how the References section runs to 23 footnotes. Deduct those from the 31 at the main article British Museum and you realise that there only seven claims in the article with external citations. Obviously, the very nature of my proposal means that a couple of new footnotes will be created linking to the relevant sections of BM (stats), but this still highlights the need for more facts in the body of the article to be cited – something that may not be clear to the casual surfer who sees 31 footnotes.
Now about converting lists into prose: articles with several long lists tend to be frowned upon, particularly by those who monitor Wikipedia:Peer review and Wikipedia:Featured article candidates. It's better to give that information in flowing, properly structured sentences (in other words, prose), such as you'd expect to find in an encyclopaedia. Lists present information in its "raw" state; we encyclopaedists want to refine it by making prose out of it. That is what I mean by advocating a summary style (you could also call it encyclopaedic) as opposed to an inventory one; it's also the principle behind my suggestion of moving the italicised lists (yet more "raw information") to a dedicated appendix. Regards, [talk to the] HAM 13:26, 27 January 2007 (UTC)


Hi Ham,
Really sorry for not getting back to you, was in the States on business. Thanks for the comments above, I think the points and ideas you've raise are excellent. I'll get back to you on them soon, going to dash for a while.
Aside, I like your work on the National Gallery article, it's excellent. To be honest, I've been using that page, along with a few others to garner ideas as to improving this one. Personally, I still think this page is way off benchmark yet. I've sorted out most of the images, doesn't mean that they are correctly positioned yet, however they're a lot better than before. The Departments section needs much work on. I like the idea about prosing equally like the idea from LordHarris below to move some content off this page, perhaps moving the 'key highlights' off the page. The History, Foundation are way off the mark yet. But, we'll work on it.
I'll get back to your points shortly and we'll discuss more before committing. Good luck at the Courtauld Institute of Art, great place + it's only up the road to the City where I work.
--ImperialCollegeGrad 11:46, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Article title

The guideline at WP:NC states that "if the definite or indefinite article would be capitalized in running text, then include it at the beginning of the page name... otherwise, do not". Any objections, then, to changing the article title (currently The British Museum) back to British Museum? [talk to the] HAM 13:26, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Please! just look at the list of double redirects. "The" in Wikipedia articles is generally a sign of a book or film title, etc "The Raven". A more experienced user would have paused before moving a large, established article. On its letterhead Metropolitan Museum of Art is "The Metropolitan Museum of Art". Thank you, Ham.--Wetman 21:23, 29 January 2007 (UTC)
Alas, User:Woohookitty is under a very different impression. With this edit he's delisted this page from Requested moves, his rationale being that "the official name is THE British Museum per their website". I think I'll have to point him to the overwhelming precedent for articles on institutions not having the definite article even if, as you say, it appears on their letterhead. Removing a proposal without discussion seems like poor form for an admin... [talk to the] HAM 21:16, 2 February 2007 (UTC)
Ham, it sounds good. The politically correct would charge a noun as extant. Since in this example , i.e. The British Museum, the definate article preceding the apparent noun is itself inclusive with the name of the organisation. However, if Wikipedia has a convention on such matters then I'm cool with your take on the name. Please revert as you have suggested. Thanks --ImperialCollegeGrad 23:11, 29 January 2007 (UTC)
It should be "British Museum" on Wikipedia - see for example National Gallery, London which is officially "The National Gallery" as a close analogy. MarkThomas

It seems to me that there is a consensus for a move to "British Museum". If that's OK, I'll move it in about 24 hours--Runcorn 22:45, 2 February 2007 (UTC) .

[edit] Departments

Over the past few months this article has really developed extensively, especially the departments section. However I think that the article as a whole is long and in far too much depth on the elements of the specific collections, some of which are represented here in the article better than others. I think it would be an excellent idea if someone could create new articles for the departments, allowing an expansion of the information for each department - more text, photos etc and instead have only a paragraph and a link on each department on this, the main page. That would improve the presentation, quality and scope of the British Museum article.

I have already edited the Asia Department section, creating a new article for the department, laying out structurally. I habve added a see further link with a brief intro on the main page. The new article (The British Museum Department of Asia) has the scope to be expanded to include a concise highlight of the major rooms/collections, as well as the addition of some small gallerys for each collection e.g. Islam, Korea etc. I think there is a danger that we dont want to make the British museum category of articles too extensive, as their website includes an index of all their collection! But a highlight of the museums departments is something that I think a lot of people come to wikipedia to see, before or after going to the Museum. Perhaps someone would please like to do this for the rest of the departments, as this will make more contribution possible and allow the main article to be much more encyclopedic. LordHarris 12:51, 9 February 2007 (UTC)


Hi LordHarris,
Thanks for the comments above, principally I've been editing the departments section for this article over the last few months. User Ham above, has also been very active in encouraging good practice and contributing much to the structure of the page.
Since coming back from holiday I've noticed a lot of changes which is a good thing. Looking back at what the article appeared like in December, it is now hugely more readable, enjoyable, comprehensive and accurate in scope than before. I think it's important when we edit these articles that a discussion should occur first before such large changes occur as the overiding consequence normally tends to a reversion on a previous edit.
What I think is important here is not to use this main British Museum article as a proxy to other pages, hence becoming less informative then it need be. To discuss the British Museum implies you discuss the collection within, othewise what is the point in visiting a museum? To only talk about the building, it's foundation and all the individuals attached to it, is pointless unless you discuss the purpose of such an institute, i.e. a repository of knowledge of different cultures and identities. And, it should be discussed in this article, not pointed to other pages for clarity sake, this page isn't a hotlink to others unless complimentary information can be found elsewhere.
I do agree that there is cleaning to be had on certain parts of this article, however to move the collections to separate pages leaving a skeleton paragraph behind is incorrect. Since moving the Department of Asia to another link, which in itself is excellent, hugely more expansive then the prior version in this article, it has reduced the emphasis placed on the collection within this article. A summary paragraph does not do justice. Personally I think individuals who visit museums, rather who visit this page to understand more about the musuem, want to know more about the collections. The Egyptian Collection is amongst the most popular of galleries, to move this to another page and leave the remains behind is incorrect.
Thus, I disagree about having a singular paragraph to highlight the collection for each department. I do agree that we can reduce the present content where needed. As an idea to discuss we could move some of the 'key highlights' to another page as all of them aren't needed. If you revert back to some of comments above you'll see that we've tried discussing these points, i.e. what to move and what not to move. In this instance to move the commentary for the Department of Asia without prior discourse with the community on such an important point doesn't seem right considering individuals are trying to discuss these points and reach consensus. Therefore, I will be reverting back to the prior version and we'll discuss the structure more. Having said that thank you for your help, it's great that people like yourself are actively working to better this article.
--ImperialCollegeGrad 11:37, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Hi, firstly thanks for replying rather than just reverting straight off. Secondly good work on all the recent approvements. Thirdly, I appreciate that the British Museum has a "community" but I find your comments "In this instance to move the commentary for the Department of Asia without prior discourse with the community on such an important point doesn't seem right considering individuals are trying to discuss these points and reach consensus" shall we say less than friendly, and less than in keeping with the spirit of the wikimedia editing policy. Moving on, I agree that a short paragraph is not the best answer. I think you are more than right in arguing that the page should list some of the key highlights. Therefore I would like to make a suggestion that we keep the extended paragraph on the department, but add the see further note. This way not only do we get a good intro do the departments main collections but also people have the opportunity to see an article for the department of Asia in detail? I hope this is a solution that is more of a middle ground?LordHarris 11:50, 11 February 2007 (UTC)


Hi LordHarris,
Apologies if I sounded rude, wasn't my intent. I guess the passion overcame me and should've re-read my commentary first. I very much like the fact that you're helping here. Previously, when this article was dormant for an age, I made many changes in quick succession without commentary as I knew not of best practice until individuals like yourself pointed them out. Thanks for your help again.
I like your new idea, it sounds good, but equally I think when we look at say the Department of the Ancient Near East, which was one of my first works, it does appear over done and too long. Therefore in that instance, Ham's idea, above, to have prose instead of bullet points and my idea of moving 'key highlights' off to another page, alongside your idea of hotlinking it to a more expansive page sounds a good mix of the three.
I think we should pick one department, work on it and see how it matures. In the first instance I wrote the Department of Asia information, but it was summarised, my intent was to include more information like history and comparison's with other collections. As here there is good scope to compare between claims of other great world collections, i.e. Musee Guimet, Paris; Musee Quai Branly, Paris; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Cleveland Museum of Art; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Palace Museum, Beijing; National Palace Museum, Taiwan, and other notable ones in Germany.
Hope this helps, I'm sure we'll work on this and get there successfully. Have to dash now, so will come back later in the day. Thanks.
--ImperialCollegeGrad 12:10, 11 February 2007 (UTC)
Hey, thanks for replying again, all sounds good to me. Ill keep working myself on improving the seperate article on the department of Asia - adding a few key photographs of works/general galleries etc and leave you, as your more knowledgable about the main article, to edit that. BTW I only live about 5 mins away from the BM, so not too far for me to pop to with a camera. If actually you want any photos of anything for the article than im more than happy to help. Also I think a comparison with other museums around the world is a great idea. If your interested, it would make a great starting focus for starting up a new wikimedia museums project, with the aim of linking similar museums together. Anyway thanks LordHarris 16:34, 11 February 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Famous x 5

I have removed "famous" to describe 5 objects in the museum per MoS. Please see Wikipedia:Avoid peacock terms. Of course the objects are famous, thats why they are in a museum. An encyclopedia doesn't describe people or things as famous, thats the tone for a fan magazines. --Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) 00:02, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

WP:APT isn't meant (like any WP rule) to be absolute - it's a guideline. One or two of these "famouses" I would be inclined to accept, particularly the Rosetta Stone one, as it's making the valid point that this (along with the Elgin Marbles) is the most famous object in the Museum. Not all of the objects in the BM are famous by any means - one can stroll along corridor after corridor of minor objects that few have probably even looked at, and the museum holds tends of thousands of artefacts in the basements that are only placed on view once in a while. MarkThomas 10:11, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

If an object is famous enough, it will probably have its own article; the fact that something is linked to its own article should be enough indication of notability.--Runcorn 22:23, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
Very well stated, its own article determines its notability and gives it its own set of references. That just the words I was searching for. --Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) 22:37, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
I'm sorry but this discussion is ridiculous. 'Fan' magazine, are we now suggesting that the usage of the term famous can only be credulous in a fan magazine? To remove every entry of famous from this article on that basis shows that clearly there is a lack of understanding as to when this term should be applied.
Famous is suggestive of something having a widespread reputation, usually of a favorable nature (www.dictionary.com). Using this definition it is quite right to use the term famous whereever applicable, regardless of whether or not it is contained within this article. Please read the wikipedia article on notability & on Avoid Peacock Terms, no where does it say 'these terms can't be used'. To suggest as such is taking an extreme view of the guidelines.
Through much documented information in various sources, it is a known fact that The Royal Hunt Scenes are famous, it is known fact that the Mona Lisa is famous, therefore do we go then choose to remove every instance of the term famous throughout Wikipedia because individuals choose to base decisions on opinion? Where applicable, the term famous will be reintroduced, any objections? and please do come back with something more substantial then 'fan magazine'.
--ImperialCollegeGrad 22:21, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
Some of the "famous"es were applied to things that are actually famous. But some not. Only the culturally literate can tell the difference. High entertainment for all! --Wetman 07:45, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Can we please have a source that explicitly describes each of these objects as "famous" or "famed". (What is the difference between these?)--Runcorn 22:11, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

  • A link to an opinion piece about returning cultural properties written by the BM's Neal Spencer was deleted from the article because its host site www.touregypt.com has been placed on Wikipedia's blacklist, eliminating numerous linked articles regarding Egyptology. The blacklisting process, currently at the pleasure of individual administrators, appears to be flawed. --Wetman 11:44, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
You have to be an admin on Metawiki; see [1]. Unfortunately, as an admin only on this Wiki I cannot do anything about it. Please post a comment there.--Runcorn 19:01, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] HiStory Section

In heavily editing this article, the two sections that I least touched were the History & Buildings section. I tended not to edit these as more work was required in the Departments section, however anyone who knows of the Museum, has visted there and has a keen idea of Museology would understand the History section as unappreciating to the museum.

If you were to read it, there is little reference to formation and growth of the museum, its excavations, world wars, individuals, but just about most of it mentions the British Library which is only a minor historical note.

I previously proposed a new history content, which Ham and others had agreed and without chopping and changing within the article, I have written it offline, and will include it shortly. It will utilise, wherever appliable, some of the current content and moving the remaining to the British Library page, King's Library Page, Round Reading Room Page, Great Court Page. The new history section will be chronologically segmented to take into account 10-12 time periods where significant change occured followed by a short discourse about the growth of the museum and its collection. The majority of the collection history should be accompanied in the Departments section.

--ImperialCollegeGrad 11:17, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

Hi, the history section looks great, a lot of work has made it really comprehensive these last few months. However its almost entirely unsourced. Surely those who have written and edited it used the information from websites, books etc - this needs to be referenced in the article. LordHarris 16:02, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Category for employees

Please help to populate Category:Employees of the British Museum (past and present). Thank you. Andy Mabbett 21:11, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

There already exists Category:People associated with the British Museum, which includes directors, employees, benefactors etc. Could the Employees cat not be merged with this more wide-ranging one? [talk to the] HAM 22:37, 17 March 2007 (UTC)
I wasn't aware of that (I don't think its mentioned on the BM article). I would prefer 'employees...' to be a sub-category of "people...". Andy Mabbett 23:22, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Help: Columns for collection listing

Hi,

Can someone please help me create some columns for placing the collection listings in. For example, in the section 'Deaprtment of Ancient Egypt and Sudan', we currently have:

Key highlights of the collections include:

       * The Rosetta Stone (196 BC)
       * Limestone statue of a husband and wife (1300 BC)
       * Colossal bust of Ramesses II, the 'Younger Memnon' (1250 BC)
       * Colossal granite head of Amenhotep III (1350 BC)
       * Colossal head from a statue of Amenhotep III (1350 BC)
       * Colossal limestone bust of Amenhotep III (1350 BC)
       * Fragment of the beard of the Great Sphinx (1300 BC)
       * List of the kings of Egypt from the Temple of Ramesses II (1250 BC)
       * Limestone false door of Ptahshepses (2380 BC)
       * Granite statue of Senwosret III (1850 BC)
       * Mummy of Cleopatra from Thebes (100 AD)
       * Amarna Tablets (Collection of 94 out of 382 tablets found, second greatest in the world after the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin (202 tablets)) (1350 BC)

To reduce space and improve aesthetics, I want to utilise the column utility as has been excellently used on the National Gallery London wikipedia article for the example above.

Thanks Muj --ImperialCollegeGrad 12:07, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Hey Ham!, Thanks for helping out on the columns. Really like the look of it now. Want to chat?
--ImperialCollegeGrad 20:52, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Category Help

Hi,

Could someone please tell me how to update the British Museum category? it's not been updated in eons!

Cheers Muj --ImperialCollegeGrad 20:19, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

What do you mean by update it? If you want to add articles to it, you need to insert [[Category:British Museum]] into the articles. If you want to edit the text in the category itself, you may edit it like any other article.--Runcorn 22:24, 2 April 2007 (UTC)
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