The first museum to offer more general, although still not universal, public access was the [[British Museum]], which was established in 1753. The foundation for the British Museum was the extensive natural scientific and ethnographic collection of the scientist Sir Hans Sloane, who had bequeathed the collection for the purpose of creating such a museum. | The first museum to offer more general, although still not universal, public access was the [[British Museum]], which was established in 1753. The foundation for the British Museum was the extensive natural scientific and ethnographic collection of the scientist Sir Hans Sloane, who had bequeathed the collection for the purpose of creating such a museum. |