[Evan Charteris, Arts Administrator etc.]Substantial Autograph Letter Signed Evan Charteris to [Frank] Rutter, art critic, curator etc, concerning a falling off of attendance at Galleries and Museums.

Four pages, 8vo, very good condition. He has read an article by Rutter on the falling of attencies at Museums and Galleries. He initially ascribes it to the falling off of American visitors, this should to some extent be verifiable if the Board of Trade (?) can tell us what that falling off amounts to in the years in question- As to the British Museum the rise in 1934 is due I believe to the Codex Sinaiticus - But perhaps the most interesting fact about the figures as a whole is that the total [underlined] population visitin galleries and museums fluctuates to a comparatively small degree, & while the Galleries have declined the deficiency has been made good by a rise of [close?] on 250.000 at the Science Museum due to the numbers of children who go there to see the machinery working at the instigation of 1d [one penny]in the slot. If some simiular attraction could be devised at the National Gallery & the Bachus & Ariadne say, be set in motion by a corresponding stimulus, the decline in foreign visitors might be made good! - But the true influence to be drawn from the figures is not easy to arrive at. [sibscription and signature] I enjoyed the rest of the article to the full & thought it delightfully damaging to Atavism. Note: A. He became chairman of the Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery in 1928 and chairman of the Tate Gallery Board in 1934. He was also a Trustee of the National Gallery and the Wallace Collection [Wikipedia].