Robert Anderson studierte an der Universität Oxford, wo er 1972 als Doktor der Physischen Chemie promovierte. Zugang zur Welt der Museen fand Anderson zuerst in Edinburgh am Royal Scottish Museum, später am Science Museum in London als Direktor der Abteilung Chemie. 1984 kehrte er zurück nach Schottland als Direktor der neuen National Museums of Scotland, ein Zusammenschluss des früheren National Museum of Antiquities und des Royal Scottish Museum.

1992 wurde Anderson zum Direktor des British Museum berufen. Unter seiner Leitung wurde der sogenannte Great Court, konzipiert von Norman Foster, gebaut und 2000 von Königin Elizabeth II feierlich eröffnet. Darüber hinaus wurden unter Andersons Direktorat ca. 30 Galerien des British Museum überarbeitet sowie pro Jahr ca. 20 Ausstellungen organisiert und ca. 60 Bücher publiziert.

2002 verließ Anderson das British Museum und ging an das Institut for Advanced Study in Princeton. Zur Zeit ist er Visiting Fellow des Corpus Christi College der Cambridge University und arbeitet an einer Studie über Museen und die Arbeiterklasse.

Andersons wissenschaftliches Interesse gilt der Wissenschaftsgeschichte und der Geschichte kultureller Organisationen.

In seinem Vortrag legt er dar, durch welche kulturellen und sozialen Entwicklungen Sammlungen, Ausstellungen und Museen im Laufe des 19. Jahrhunderts zunehmend für die Arbeiterklasse zugänglich gemacht wurden, und welche zentrale Rolle sie im Prozess einer autodidaktischen Bildung der Arbeiterklasse spielten:

»Throughout the nineteenth century, collections, exhibitions and museums became increasingly available to working people. It has often been suggested that these were the preserve of the middle classes, but institutions such as the British Museum were not simply available to all in theory, they were under pressure from workers to improve access to them.

From the 1820s, large numbers of mechanics institutes were established for the purpose of adult education, and most of these created libraries and museums associated with science teaching. Later, ambitious exhibitions of machinery and industrial processes were sponsored by the institutes, and these can be considered as the precursors of the Great Exhibition held in London in 1851, leading to many such international fairs. Huge numbers of workers made their way to them, many of whom had never previously experienced exhibitions, or had even travelled by train before.

Later in the century, governments became enthusiastic to establish national museums which were intended to educate the public in manufacturing processes and inspire improved quality of design. Increasing access to the material culture of science and technology was part of a process of self-education and can be seen to lead to increased wealth and status.

But this itself led to the decline of the institutes through a process of gentrification, and they became social centres which were more used for recreation than for learning. Likewise, by the end of the century, the industrial museums had been transformed into museums of decorative arts.«

Ausgewählte Veröffentlichungen:

• The Playfair Collection and the teaching of chemistry at the University of Edinburgh, 1713-1858, Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, 1978.
• R.G.W. Anderson (Hrsg.), Science in India: a "Festival of India" exhibition at the Science Museum, London, 24 March-1 August 1982, Science Museum, London, 1982.
• R.G.W. Anderson; Christopher Lawrence (Hrsg.), Science, medicine, and dissent: Joseph Priestley (1733-1804): papers celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Priestley together with a catalogue of an exhibition held at the Royal Society and the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, Wellcome Trust/Science Museum, London, 1987.
• R. G. W. Anderson; J. Burnett; B. Gee, Handlist of scientific instrumentmakers’ trade catalogues, 1600-1914, National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1990.
• R. G. W. Anderson; J. A. Bennett; W. F. Ryan (Hrsg.), Making instruments count: essays on historical scientific instruments presented to Gerard L'Estrange Turner, Variorum, Aldershot, 1993.
• The Great Court and the British Museum, The British Museum Press, London, 2000.
• R.G.W. Anderson et al. (Hrsg.), Enlightening the British: knowledge, discovery, and the museum in the eighteenth century, British Museum Press, London, 2003.