• history of the south african museum
• key dates in the history of the south african museum
• directors of the south african museum
• history of the terrestrial invertebrate collection
• james drury - taxidermist

see also:

• Out of Africa there is always something new  by J.A. van den Heever
• Growth of a Collection (Ethnology Collection)  by E. M.Shaw

Key Dates in the History of the South African Museum

1825

• The South African Museum (SAM) was founded as a public institution by the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, Lord Charles Somerset.
• Dr Andrew Smith, an Edinburgh-trained army surgeon, was appointed as the first 'Superintendent' of the SAM.
• The SAM was housed in an apartment in the Public Library, situated in part of the building now occupied by the South African Cultural History Museum.
• The early collections included minerals, shells, fishes, reptiles, birds, mammals and ethnographic material.

1829

• Jules Verreaux, a French taxidermist, associated with the SAM from its founding, took over responsibility for the collections from Andrew Smith, who was away from the Cape for extended period on expeditions to the interior.

1837

• Andrew Smith returned to England, where specimens collected on his expeditions were exhibited and sold to defray costs. Relatively few items collected by Andrew Smith remained in the SAM.

1855

• Edgar Layard was appointed as Curator of the SAM. By this time the collections had been housed in a number of places in Cape Town and had been neglected; the SAM was duly reconstituted by Government Notice and a Board of Trustees was appointed. From this time on there are formal annual reports of the SAM.

1860

• A new building for the Museum and Library was opened by HRH Prince Albert in the presence of Sir George Grey. By the mid 1880s the building was too small and plans for a new building were initiated.
• Interior of the Museum, about 1880, showing the addition of two galleries. Note the fossil buffalo horns and the group of Polynesian paddles.

1872

• Roland Trimen (entomologist) was appointed as Curator.

1897

• On 6 April the new building was opened by the Prime Minister, Sir Gordon Sprigg. William Sclater (vertebrate zoologist) had been appointed as Director the previous year and the following decade was one of unprecedented growth for the SAM.

1898

• The first issue of the Annals of the South African Museum was published; to date 104 volumes have been published

1906

•  Louis Peringuey (entomologist) was appointed as Director.

1924

• Edwin Gill (ornithologist) was appointed as Director.

1946

• Dr Keppel Barnard (ichthyologist and invertebrate specialist) was appointed as Director.

1950s

• Changes in governance and funding were introduced after the passing of the State-aided Institutions Amendment Act in 1954. Working conditions improved but the Trustees lost much of their former autonomy.

1956

• Dr A Crompton (palaeontologist) was appointed as Director. The first specialist exhibition designers were employed.
• The diorama of a hunter-gatherer camp in the Karoo was completed in 1959, incorporating the life-casts that had been produced in the early decades of the century.

1960s

• The 'Historical Collections' of the SAM were transferred to the a newly formed Cultural History division of the SAM, housed in the Old Supreme Court building (the same building had housed the SAM in 1825, and before that it had been the Dutch East India Company's Slave Lodge).

1964

• Dr T Barry (palaeontologist) was appointed Director in 1964.

1969

• The South African Cultural History Museum became an independent museum.

1975

• The SAM celebrated its 150th anniversary.

1985

• Dr M Cluver (palaeontologist) was appointed Director.

1987

• Major extensions to the SAM were completed and opened to the public - these included much improved storage for collections and research facilities, as well as new public galleries, the most striking being the Whale Well. The new Planetarium was launched.

1997

• In April the SAM celebrated the centenary of being on its present site