The ‘Public’ Indian Museum, Calcutta, 1858–1878

The first museum to be set up in India in 1814 by the British Orientalists underwent a significant change when the Government of India took it over in 1858. The change was shaped by the experience of the great Indian uprising of 1857 to which, most importantly, the ordinary people (artisans, peasants, the unemployed etc.) rallied. Though the Raj succeeded eventually in suppressing the Revolt, its officials were deeply disturbed by the popular uprising and its effects. Policies were designed thereafter with these anxieties in mind—notably the one for running the museum in Calcutta. The authorities designed the museum as a ‘public’ space rather than as an ‘imperial’ edifice, and they hoped to get over their prolonged alienation from the masses by opening its doors to the ordinary people. This article examines the background and intent of the establishment of the Museum in Calcutta and its administration in the nineteenth century, with particular attention to the conception of the ‘public’ that underpinned it. It also outlines how the public in question responded to the museum.