Welsh Journals

famous by Dylan Thomas became an extremely popular centre for culture and research.4 Caernarfon and Caerleon Museums were both formed in 1846 by local Antiquarian Societies. The former was described in the first number of Archaeologia Cambrensis as having 'fallen to pieces' but the author later retracted this by saying that he had seen it with his own eyes, and that 'it was buried in dust and oblivion, but had every prospect of being resuscitated'.5 The law enabling local authorities to establish and run museums and libraries was changed very soon after its enactment in 1845. Initially local authorities were required to establish both libraries and museums, but muse- ums were soon downgraded and became non-statutory so when, in 1852, an anonymous author suggested that a museum could be easily established in every county town and a library attached,6 he was already a little out of date. However, it was this suggestion that was proposed in Aberystwyth only nineteen years later, but it never came to fruition. With the formation of the Cambrian Archaeological Association in 1845 came the desire by members to see collections of local antiquities and other objects on their trips around Wales. In 1859 a display, called a Museum, was arranged for the Association's Meeting in Cardigan. It appears to have been typical of temporary exhibitions in Britain in that it included local and for- eign antiquarian items; documents and Welsh and English Bibles.7 Proposals for an Aberystwyth Town Museum In 1871 a new Market Hall was opened in Aberystwyth. The original plans included rooms for the Aberystwyth Literary Institute but as built, it included a room for a Library and Museum. In the same year, George Ernest Powell of Nanteos (1842-1882) offered to give a collection of pictures and art objects to the town on condition they found a room for them. The offer was accepted with alacrity and without reservation and two sites for the museum and gallery a room over the Market Hall or a new building behind the Town Hall were proposed. This necessitated the Council adopting the Public Libraries Act, not for a Library, but for the collection and this had to be done at a public meeting which was held in December, 1871 when it was suggested that a Library be included with the Museum. Plans were drawn up for a Library and Art Gallery behind the Town Hall but then the Literary Society offered the town its collection of books and this, with the suggestion that Powell's collection was not worth much, encouraged the Council to pre-