In the beginning

The British Museum was founded on 7th June 1753 when The British Museum Act received the Royal Assent. This act provided for a public lottery to be held to raise funds for the acquisition of the Sir Hans Sloane collection of natural history items, books, manuscripts and antiquities as well as a repository to house them in. Also included in this arrangement was the purchase of the Harley Collection of manuscripts and the housing of the Cottonian collection of books, manuscripts etc, which had been bequeathed to the nation in 1700.

In 1754 the Trustees purchased Montagu House, a 17th century mansion in Bloomsbury to house the collections and in 1756 appointed the Museum's first staff under a Principal Librarian, Gowin Knight. The Museum opened to the public on 15th January 1759.

Acquisitions for the Museum continued to grow and in 1757, King George II donated the Royal Library and with it the privilege of copyright deposit. The increasing importance of the expanding antiquities collections was recognised in 1807 by the establishment of a separate Antiquities Department and in 1808 by the opening of the Townley Gallery to house Classical and Egyptian material. The Department of Prints and Drawings was created in 1836.

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