Editing British Museum (section)

===Disruption and reconstruction (1925–1950)===
New [[mezzanine]] floors were constructed and book stacks rebuilt in an attempt to cope with the flood of books. In 1931, the art dealer [[Joseph Duveen, 1st Baron Duveen of Millbank|Sir Joseph Duveen]] offered funds to build a gallery for the [[Elgin Marbles|Parthenon sculptures]]. Designed by the American architect [[John Russell Pope]], it was completed in 1938. The appearance of the exhibition galleries began to change as dark Victorian reds gave way to modern pastel shades.{{refn|group=lower-alpha|1=Ashmole, the Keeper of the Greek and Roman Antiquities appreciated the original top-lighting of these galleries and removed the Victorian colour scheme, commenting: <blockquote>The old Elgin Gallery was painted a deep terracotta red, which, though in some ways satisfactory, diminished its apparent size, and was apt to produce a depressing effect on the visitor. It was decided to experiment with lighter colours, and the walls of the large room were painted with what was, at its first application, a pure cold white, but which after a year's exposure had unfortunately yellowed. The small Elgin Room was painted with pure white tinted with prussian blue, and the Room of the metopes was painted with pure white tinted with cobalt blue and black; it was necessary, for practical reasons, to colour all the dadoes a darker colour<ref>Quoted Ashmole (1994), 125</ref></blockquote>}}
 
Following the retirement of George Francis Hill as Director and Principal Librarian in 1936, he was succeeded by [[John Forsdyke]].

As tensions with Nazi Germany developed and it appeared that war may be imminent Forsdyke came to the view that with the likelihood of far worse air-raids than that experienced in World War I that the museum had to make preparations to remove its most valuable items to secure locations. Following the Munich crisis Forsdyke ordered 3,300 No-Nail Boxes and stored them in the basement of Duveen Gallery. At the same time he began identifying and securing suitable locations. As a result, the museum was able to quickly commence relocating selected items on 24 August 1939, (a mere day after the Home Secretary advised them to do so), to secure basements, [[English country house|country houses]], [[Aldwych tube station|Aldwych Underground station]] and the [[National Library of Wales]].<ref name=Shenton>{{cite book |last= Shenton |first= Caroline |year= 2021 |title= National Treasures: Saving the Nation's Art in World War II |location= London |publisher= John Murray |pages= 60–64, 233–238 |type= Hardback |isbn= 978-1-529-38743-8}}</ref> Many items were relocated in early 1942 from their initial dispersal locations to a newly developed facility at [[Westwood Quarry]] in [[Wiltshire]].<ref name= Shenton/>
The evacuation was timely, for in 1940 the Duveen Gallery was severely damaged by bombing.<ref>Cook, B. F. (2005). ''The Elgin Marbles''. London: The British Museum Press, p. 92.</ref> Meanwhile, prior to the war, the Nazis had sent a researcher to the British Museum for several years with the aim of "compiling an anti-Semitic history of Anglo-Jewry".<ref name="germanlibrariesaronsfeld">{{cite journal|last1=Aronsfeld|first1=C. C.|title=Judaica and Hebraica in German libraries: a review article|journal=Journal of Librarianship and Information Science|date=April 1984|volume=16|issue=2|pages=129–132|doi=10.1177/096100068401600204|s2cid=60789240|quote=The Nazis, in fact, went to great lengths in exploiting Jewish (as well as general) literature. For instance, they arranged for a German researcher to spend several years at the British Museum for the purpose of compiling an anti-Semitic history of Anglo-Jewry, which, at the time, with its 562 pages and a bibliography of some 600 items, was an effort more ambitious than hitherto attempted.}}</ref>

After the war, the museum continued to collect from all countries and all centuries: among the most spectacular additions were the 2600 BC [[Mesopotamia]]n treasure from [[Ur]], discovered during [[Leonard Woolley]]'s 1922–34 excavations. Gold, silver and [[garnet]] grave goods from the [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] ship burial at [[Sutton Hoo]] (1939) and late Roman silver tableware from [[Mildenhall Treasure|Mildenhall]], Suffolk (1946). The immediate [[post-war]] years were taken up with the return of the collections from protection and the restoration of the museum after the [[The Blitz|Blitz]]. Work also began on restoring the damaged Duveen Gallery.