Editing Victoria and Albert Museum (section)

=== Foundation ===
[[File:HenryCole2.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Henry Cole (inventor)|Henry Cole]], the museum's first director]]
[[File:Victoria and Albert Museum courtyard frieze detail.jpg|thumb|Frieze detail from internal courtyard showing Queen Victoria in front of the 1851 Great Exhibition]]
The Victoria and Albert Museum has its origins in [[the Great Exhibition]] of 1851. [[Henry Cole (inventor)|Henry Cole]] was the museum's first director, he was also involved in the planning. Initially the V&A was known as the '''Museum of Manufactures'''.<ref name="Physick 1982">{{cite book | last=Physick | first=John Frederick | title=The Victoria and Albert Museum, the history of its building | publisher=Phaidon, Christie's | publication-place=Oxford | year=1982 |url=https://archive.org/details/victoriaalbertm00phys |url-access=registration | oclc=558942717 | page=16| isbn=978-0-7148-8001-3 }}</ref> The first opening to the general public was in May 1852 at [[Marlborough House]]. By September the collection had been transferred to [[Somerset House]]. At this stage, the collections covered both applied art and science.<ref>{{cite book| title=Survey of London XXXVIII: The Museums Area of South Kensington and Westminster|first=F.H.W. |last=Sheppard | year=1975| page=248}}</ref> Several of the exhibits from the opening Exhibition were purchased by the museum to form the kernel of the V&A collection.{{sfn|Physick|1982|p=19}}

By February 1854 discussions were underway to transfer the museum to the current site{{sfn|Physick|1982|p=22}} and the museum was renamed '''South Kensington Museum'''. In 1855 the German architect [[Gottfried Semper]], at the request of Cole, produced a design for the museum, but it was rejected by the [[Board of Trade]] as too expensive.<ref>Harry Francis ''Gottfried Semper: Architect of the Nineteenth Century'' 1996 Mallgrave p. 226</ref> The current site was occupied by Brompton Park House, which was extended in 1857 to include the first refreshment rooms. The V&A was the first museum in the world to provide researchers and guests a [[catering]] service.{{sfn|Physick|1982|p=30}}<ref name="FerrenNYT-2024" />

The official opening by [[Queen Victoria]] was on 20 June 1857.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://qvj.chadwyck.com/marketing.do|title=Queen Victoria's Journals – Information Site |publisher=qvj.chadwyck.com}}</ref> In the following year, late-night openings were introduced, made possible by the use of [[gas lighting]]. In the words of museum director Cole gas lighting was introduced "to ascertain practically what hours are most convenient to the working classes".{{sfn|Physick|1982|p=35}} To raise interest for the museum among the [[target audience]], the museum exhibited its collections on both applied art and science. The museum aimed to provide educational resources and thus boost the productive industry.{{sfn|Sheppard|1975|p=248}}

In these early years the practical use of the collection was very much emphasised as opposed to that of "[[High Art]]" at the [[National Gallery (London)|National Gallery]] and scholarship at the [[British Museum]].{{sfn|Sheppard|1975|p=97}} [[George Wallis]] (1811–1891), the first Keeper of Fine Art Collection, passionately promoted the idea of wide art education through the museum collections. This led to the transfer to the museum of the School of Design that had been founded in 1837 at Somerset House; after the transfer, it was referred to as the Art School or Art Training School, later to become the [[Royal College of Art]] which finally achieved full independence in 1949. From the 1860s to the 1880s the scientific collections had been moved from the main museum site to various improvised galleries to the west of [[Exhibition Road]].{{sfn|Sheppard|1975|p=248}} In 1893 the "Science Museum" had effectively come into existence when a separate director was appointed.{{sfn|Sheppard|1975|p=252}}

[[File:Old Houses on Site of Victoria and Albert Museum, 1899 by Philip Norman.jpg|thumb|Old Houses on Site of Victoria and Albert Museum, 1899 by [[Philip Norman (artist)|Philip Norman]]]]
Queen Victoria returned to lay the foundation stone of the Aston Webb building (to the left of the main entrance) on 17 May 1899.{{sfn|Physick|1982|p=252}} It was during this ceremony that the change of name from 'South Kensington Museum' to 'Victoria and Albert Museum' was made public. Queen Victoria's address during the ceremony, as recorded in ''[[The London Gazette]]'', ended: "I trust that it will remain for ages a Monument of discerning Liberality and a Source of Refinement and Progress."<ref name="London Gazette">{{London Gazette |issue=27081 |date=19 May 1899 |page=3186}}</ref>

The exhibition which the museum organised to celebrate the centennial of the 1899 renaming, ''A Grand Design'', first toured in North America from 1997 ([[Baltimore Museum of Art]], [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]], [[Royal Ontario Museum]], Toronto, [[Museum of Fine Arts, Houston]] and the [[Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco]]), returning to London in 1999.<ref name="ArtMag">{{cite web |url=http://www.artmag.com/museums/a_greab/agblova/agblova5.html |title=A Grand Design: The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum |publisher=ArtMag.com }}</ref> To accompany and support the exhibition, the museum published a book, ''Grand Design'', which it has made available for reading online on its website.<ref name="Grand Design">{{cite web |url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1159_grand_design/ |title=A Grand Design: A History of the Victoria and Albert Museum |publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum |date=29 July 2015 }}</ref>