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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
Louis Albert Péringuey:
Director of
the South African Museum
1906 -1924
Louis Péringuey joined the staff of the South African Museum in 1884 as a
scientific assistant, and in 1895 he was put in charge of the Invertebrate
Collection. He was well acquainted with Museum administration as he had been
Acting Director on a least eight occasions and the Board of Trustees did not
hesitate to appoint him as Director in 1906 following Sclater's resignation.
Even though the Museum was experiencing financial hardship, the institution
was remarkable for the volume of collecting, of research and publication, and
for the fact that there were then a larger number of active departments at this
time. Peringuey encouraged the staff to be enthusiastic collectors and as there
was no vehicle, collectors had to travel by train and then either walk or hire a
donkey-cart or an ox-wagon.
Peringuey became the effective head of the department of
Entomology for 40 years as
well as caring for the collections relating to Human Sciences, Archaeology,
Ethnology and Cultural History. He made some significant contributions to
the study of Human Sciences as he was very interested in physical anthropology.
A collection of plaster casts of the San people was undertaken to record
their physical appearance and these casts then formed a unique display in the
Museum.
The Museum was becoming overcrowded, but the outbreak of the First World War
stopped all new buildings. It was with the utmost difficulty that Peringuey
persuaded the authorities to let him buy four old corrugated iron buildings in
1922, which served as store rooms. The next year saw the erection of the Whale
Shed but it was an incomplete building having only an earth floor.
On 20 February 1924, at the age of 69, Peringuey died very suddenly
while walking home down the Avenue below the Museum.
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