McGregor Museum

McGregor Museum

Main building, Atlas Street, Kimberley
Established	1907
Location	7 Atlas Street, Herlear, Kimberley, Northern Cape, South Africa
Coordinates	28°44′59″S 24°46′48″E / 28.74972°S 24.78000°E / -28.74972; 24.78000Coordinates: 28°44′59″S 24°46′48″E / 28.74972°S 24.78000°E / -28.74972; 24.78000
Type	Multidisciplinary museum
Owner	Board of Trustees / Provincial Public Entity
Nearest car park	In museum grounds, Atlas Street, Kimberley
Website	www.museumsnc.co.za & McGregor Museum Kimberley FACEBOOK page

The McGregor Museum in Kimberley, South Africa, originally known as the Alexander McGregor Memorial Museum, is a multidisciplinary museum which serves Kimberley and the Northern Cape, established in 1907.

Housed at first in a purpose-built museum building in Chapel Street, Kimberley, and spreading to occupy further spaces in the city, the museum was, and still is, governed by a Board of Trustees, aided financially by the Kimberley municipality (up to the 1950s), then by the Cape Provincial Administration and, today, by the Northern Cape Administration through the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture. In May 2014 it was declared a Provincial Public Entity, effective from 1 April 2014.

Alexander McGregor had been a Mayor of Kimberley, whose wife bequeathed the building to perpetuate his memory.

Today the museum has its headquarters at the old Kimberley Sanatorium building in Belgravia, Kimberley, and it has several satellites including the original building in Chapel Street. The museum was found on 24 September 1907. By coincidence 24 September was chosen as Heritage Day, a public holiday in South Africa post-1994.

The McGregor Museum is a primary research institute in and for the Northern Cape (and is anticipated to have a role in articulation with the School of Heritage which is to be a part of the Sol Plaatje University) in fields of natural and cultural history (including zoology, botany, general history, South African struggle history, archaeology, social anthropology). It curates important collections and archival material (see below) and, on the basis of its collections and research activities, performs educational and outreach functions to the community locally and throughout the province. Research programmes include international collaborative projects.

The McGregor Museum operates as a Provincial Public Entity (as of April 2014), governed by a Board of Trustees. It was originally aided by the Kimberley Municipality, De Beers and many donors (from 1907); then by the Cape Provincial Administration (from 1958); and, from 1994, as a Province-aided Museum receiving an annual grant from the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, Northern Cape Province, which also employed the staff of the museum.

Directors of the McGregor Museum have been: