John Marshall (1862-1928) was an antiquities expert hired by the Metropolitan Museum of New York. An attentive observer of the antiquities trade, Marshall's archive, photographs and annotations on more than 1000 objects, shines light on the secretive world of art dealing and how objects arrived at the largest museums of Europe and North America.

Museums and collecting is now a major area of cultural studies. This selected group of key texts opens the investigation and appreciation of museum history. Edward Edwards, chief pioneer of municipal public libraries, chronicles the founders and early donors to the British Museum. Greenwood and Murray provide informative pictures of the early history of the museum movement. Sir William Flower, Director of the British Museum (Natural History), takes a pioneering philosophical approach to the sphere of natural history in relation to museums. Similarly, Acland and Ruskin discuss and explore the relationships of art and architecture to museums.