As museums became more established the free-and-easy ambience of their forerunners naturally gave way to a more structured approach that forbade touching the exhibits. In certain ways such museums were more formal than their successors, as, for example, when they only permitted guided visits. Early museums, in fact, retained many characteristics of the private collections on which they were based. The museum tour led by a curator matched the house tour that might be offered by a host. By allowing visitors to touch the objects within the museum, therefore, the curator enacted ancient notions of hospitality. Practical, as well as social, considerations contributed to the tactile accessibility of early museums. While certain particularly valuable or delicate artefacts were placed under glass, many were hung on walls, where they could often readily be touched, or stored in drawers where the inclination was to take them out and handle them.
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