The British Museum Friends

The British Museum Friends (BMF) is a registered charitable organisation in the UK with close links to the British Museum, and was set up in 1968. It provides funding in the form of grants to the British Museum in order to support the educational objectives of the Museum including to allow the Museum to acquire new items and collections,[1] and assists with financing research programmes, conservation, and new technologies throughout the Museum.[2][3]

The British Museum Friends
AbbreviationBMF
Formation1968
TypeCharity
PurposeSupports the British Museum with grants for acquisitions, and assists with research programmes, conservation, and new technologies throughout the Museum.
Location
  • British Museum
Region served
England and Wales
Membership
48,000 (March 2013)
Parent organisation
British Museum
Websitehttps://www.britishmuseum.org/join_in.aspx
RemarksCurrent Chairman: David Norgrove

Acquisitions
Clay tablet, late Uruk period, 3300-3100 BCE. Proto-cuneiform signs, food issue list " rations" written by combining a human head and a bowl. No provenance. Purchased via Christie's in 1989, with contribution from the British Museum Friends

Acquisitions supported by the BMF include the Nimrud Ivories, the Warren Cup,[4] the Canterbury Astrolabe Quadrant,[5][6] the Burney Relief,[7] a Mycenaean terracotta group of three dancers in a ring, the gold mancus of Coenwulf,[8][9] the Ringlemere Cup, the Vale of York Hoard[10] and two very rare gold coins of the Roman Emperor Carausius found in the North Midlands in 2007.[11][12]

Other acquisitions funded in whole or in part by the Friends during 2008–9 include the Chettle Park Hoard and twelve Greek papyri from Roman Egypt from the Oxyrhynchus Papyri.[13][14]

American Friends of the British Museum

The American Friends of the British Museum (AFBM) was set up in 1989 as a not-for-profit organisation whose principal purpose is raising awareness and financial support for the British Museum.[15] Since its founding, American Friends of the British Museum has contributed over $30 million to support a variety of projects at the British Museum, including:

  • The Queen Elizabeth II Great Court
  • Special exhibitions
  • Scholarly symposia
  • Acquisitions
  • Staff positions in the curatorial and education departments.[16]

See also

References
  1. "BMF acquisitions trail" (PDF). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. The British Museum Friends website
  3. 'Electron microscopes assist work at British Museum' Laboratory Talk website 28 May 2008 Archived 16 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  4. 'Recent Acquisitions' British Museum website
  5. The Astrolabe on Curator and Collector August 2008
  6. 'Unique medieval astrolabe saved by the British Museum', The Daily Telegraph 30 July 2008
  7. 'British Museum's new acquisition', History Today 11 March 2003
  8. 'Gold mancus of Coenwulf' on the British Museum website
  9. Purchase of the Coenwulf coin in The Guardian
  10. Vale of York Hoard on Culture 24 website
  11. BMF on artdaily.org
  12. 'Rare Roman coins acquired for British Museum and Derby with Art Fund help' on Art Fund website
  13. The British Museum Reports and Accounts for the Year Ended 31 March 2009
  14. The British Museum Friends Annual Review to 31 March 2009
  15. Website of the American Friends of the British Museum
  16. Mission of the AFBM Archived 17 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine
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