HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM
The National Museum was established in Manila on October 29, 1901 as
“The Insular Museum of Ethnology, Natural History and Commerce” under
the Department of Public Instruction by virtue of ACT No. 284 passed by
the Philippine Commission. It was created basically to complement the
Bureau of Non-Christian Tribes which was subsequently named Bureau of
Ethnological Survey.
After the
Louisiana Purchase Centennial Exposition at St. Louis, Missouri in
1904, the original name of the Museum was changed to “Philippine
Museum” while the Bureau of Ethnological Survey ceased to be an
independent unit to become a Division of Ethnology under the Bureau of
Education in 1905 to be transferred to the Bureau of Science in 1906.
In
1916 through ACT No. 2572, the Division of Ethnology and the Fine Arts
Division of the Philippine Museum were merged to create the “Philippine
Library and Museum” while the Natural History Division, all that was
left of the Philippine Museum, was retained in the Bureau of Science.
On
December 7, 1928, the “National Museum of the Philippine Islands” was
created under the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources
through ACT No. 3477 only to be abolished in 1933 by ACT No. 4007
transferring the Division of Fine Arts to the National Library (then
Philippine Library and Museum) and the Division of Ethnology to the
Bureau of Science. The Division of Ethnology and the Natural History
Division were combined to become the “National Museum Division”. This
was renamed the “Natural History Museum Division” and placed under the
Office of the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce in 1939 through
Commonwealth Act No. 453. The Division was later joined with the
National Library’s Division of Fine Arts to become the “National
Museum” under the Office of the Executive Secretary.
