Collection-level records:

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  LM&G manages nine sites across the City of Leeds, comprising: Abbey House Museum, Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds City Museum, Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills and Thwaite Watermill, Leeds Discovery Centre, Lotherton and Temple Newsam.

  Core to our museum service are the collections; an estimated 1.3 million individual objects, which include our historic buildings, across a vast range of disciplines. Our collections derive from locations across the world, across cultures and time spanning some 5 billion years of Earth history and 300,000 years of human civilisation. There is a distinct Leeds flavour in that through the collections we celebrate the people, culture and natural environment of our city and its environs, but it is in no way restricted to a local focus.

  Four of our collections are Designated; recognised as being pre-eminent collections of national and international importance under the Arts Council England Designation Scheme and have an international reputation for their quality, depth and unique nature. These are Decorative Arts, Fine Arts, Industrial History and Natural Sciences.

  Our collections are by no means static: we are actively developing them and moving forward. A vibrant programme of collecting is ongoing and is conducted through various means including; purchase, gift, community projects, transfers, bequests and commissions. We have mature relationships with national funding bodies and our local supporting organisations and have a strategic approach to collecting. As a result our collections are among the best in the UK in terms of quality and range but also in how they are being shaped by the communities with whom we engage.

  Archaeology

  There are approximately 20,000 individual artefacts in the Leeds archaeological collections, including ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities as well as native British, European and foreign archaeological material. The historic core of the collections is composed of objects collected by the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society between the early 19th century and 1921, when the collections were transferred to the care of Leeds City Council. These include high quality objects such as sculpture from Greece and the Greek islands and the mummy of the ancient Egyptian priest, Nesyamun. The archaeological collection not only covers many thousands of years of history and prehistory but also represents a wide range of cultures and civilisations around the world.

  British and European Archaeology

  Prehistoric Collections The prehistoric collections include stone axe heads, flint arrowheads and other stone tools from the Yorkshire region and beyond, numerous bronze artefacts and local Bronze Age hoards, and objects from ‘Lake Dwelling’ sites on the Continent. The Philosophical and Literary Society acquired a collection of Palaeolithic stone tools from the northern French gravel deposits, which during the 19th century helped make the case for the antiquity of human beings. This is supplemented by welldocumented stone tools from Kent and southern counties. The bulk of the collection is composed of lithic material, a good proportion of which remains unprovenanced.

  Romano-British Collections

  Roman artefacts are very well-represented by the excavated finds from the Dalton Parlours Roman villa excavations, material from the Roman town of Aldborough, finds from Adel in north Leeds and a scattering of finds from other parts of the UK. These are supplemented by substantial local excavation archives from Wattle Syke and Rothwell Haigh. A large part of the collection is unprovenanced.

  Early Medieval Collections

  Material representative of the Anglo-Saxon and Viking periods is not numerous but it is highly significant. Fragments of the Leeds Parish Church crosses (9th- 10th century), and The West Yorkshire Hoard (7th-11th century), are of national significance as well as exquisite craftsmanship. Other objects from the period include a number of unprovenanced Anglian cinerary urns and iron weapons, a high status brooch from a Jutish burial in Kent, and a group of carved gravestones found at Adel Church.

  Medieval Collections

  Finds from excavations at Kirkstall Abbey, the Cistercian monastery in west Leeds form the bulk of our holdings from the Middle Ages. However, we have material from a number of moated sites in the region and kiln firing experiments at Bodington Hall in Leeds from excavations in the 1960s. Much of the material is ceramic and fragmentary.

  Overseas Archaeology

  Ancient Egyptian Collections

  The most important exhibit is the mummy of the ancient Egyptian priest Nesyamun dating from about 1100 BC. This is supported by a more miscellaneous collection of about 1,000 Egyptian artefacts representing both daily life and funerary practices. The collection is strongest in the Predynastic period (before 3100 BC) because of the Society’s subscription to Mr Randall-Maclver’s excavations at El -Amrah for the Egypt Exploration Society early in the 20th century.

  Greek Collections

  A group of very high quality sculpture collected by people on the Grand Tour is the highlight of a more miscellaneous collection of ancient Greek artefacts which consists mostly of pottery. There is also a significant quantity of Cypriot ceramics and related material in the collection.

  Roman Collections

  This service has also been fortunate to acquire a share of the finds from Lord Savile’s excavations at

  Lanuvium in Italy, which includes fragmentary material from an important Etruscan and Roman temple, Hellenistic style pottery and some fine fragments from an important statue group depicting cavalrymen and horses. This is supported by a more miscellaneous collection of Roman small finds from Ventimiglia and other sites collected in the 19th century.

  Other overseas collections

  There is a significant collection of material from the Near East (particularly from excavations at Jericho), North America and India, as well as a small number of objects from other countries outside Europe, collected during the 19th century.

  The end-date for archaeological collecting is the closure of Kirkstall Abbey in 1539, after which material is the responsibility of the Social History department. However, in cases where later material has been acquired by archaeological methods, i.e. by excavation, field walking or metal detecting, it will usually still become part of the archaeology collection.

  There is archaeological material within the World Cultures collection, notably ancient Chinese, South America (particularly Peruvian), and Native American material.

  Decorative Arts

  The Designated collections of decorative arts comprise furniture, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, flat textiles, wallpapers and objet d’art. Historically, they derive mainly from the collections of the Leeds City Art Galleries before their amalgamation with the City Museums in 1995, though there is an overlap in some areas with the LM&G’s social history collection.

  The bulk of the material is historical, having been collected from the 1890’s onwards and is displayed within the context of the two country house museums, Temple Newsam and Lotherton. A second strand to the collection was developed from the late 1970’s onwards when a collection of modern British craft was acquired with the help of the Lotherton Endowment Fund. This is numerically small but of very high quality. It is mostly held at Lotherton with some ceramics at Leeds City Art Gallery.

  Furniture

  We have amongst the finest collections of British Furniture in the country. The core of the collection dates between c.1550 to 1900. There are also a few items of modern craft furniture. Superb examples of major makers are represented in the collection, including Thomas Chippendale the elder and younger, Linnel, Marsh and Tatham, Vile and Cobb, and Gillows. Another important area of the collection is the vernacular furniture. The chairs in this area are of particular importance and include the oldest known Windsor chair, bequeathed by Roger Warner in 2008. Part of this collection includes items of servants’ and backstairs furniture.

  Included within the furniture collection are important and rare items of country house lighting, comprising chandeliers and electroliers, sconces and various kinds of lamps. Again these are considered vital for the understanding of the domestic interiors and decorative arts in general but are useful objects and are in use within Temple Newsam and Lotherton.

  Ceramics

  The ceramics collection is numerically the largest within our collection comprising approx. 5000 items. The collection of English Pottery which ranges in date from 1650 to 1900 is of particular importance. It contains the largest holdings of creamwares in the country. There are also exceptionally rare and unique items of stoneware, pearlware and earthenwares.

  The English porcelain collection though numerically smaller than the pottery nonetheless contains important items of early Worcester and mid 1700s Derby.

  We have a small collection of continental ceramics. This is an area which has never been actively collected. Within this there are items of exceptional rarity including Delftware pottery, Sevres and Meissen.

  Oriental pottery and porcelain form a numerically large area of the collection. Of particular note is the Savery bequest of Chinese Ceramics.

  Metalwork

  Our collections of metalwork, especially silver, are remarkable. Unlike other collections which have been gathered by means of gift or bequest, the collection of silver is a comparatively small but choice assemblage of objects largely built up by curators. This means that Leeds is able to survey English silver not only in terms of style and maker but also in the way that it illustrates material culture. There are numerous outstanding pieces in the collection of international importance, notably the Raby Cistern by Philip Rollos, the Tea Equipage by Paul de Lamerie and the Kirkleatham Centrepiece by David and Anne Tanqueray.

  Glass

  Leeds has a small collection of English glass. It forms an important and complementary collection to our holdings of silver and ceramics. It is of particular importance to give a fuller picture of the understanding of the material culture of the domestic interior.

  Wallpapers

  We are one of only three institutions that actively collect wallpapers in the country alongside the V&A and the Whitworth Gallery in Manchester. Of particular note is the Roger Warner collection of wallpapers. This includes not only salvaged items from English houses but also items relating to the prominent firm of Jeffrey & Co with example of papers designed by artists and designers such as Walter Crane, and Lewis F. Day. The collection also includes an archive of the papers found at Temple Newsam and Lotherton. An interesting aspect of the collection is reproductions of papers from institutions such as the Palace of Westminster.

  Miscellaneous Objets d’Art

  There are miscellaneous items of decorative art within the collection that have been given and bequeathed. Although these have never been the focus of active collecting, they are interesting collections in their own right. Some deserve particular mention:

  The Cliff bequest of Ivories, the Oxley gift and bequest of ivories and miscellaneous objets de vertu, the Frank Fulford collection of Oriental hardstones and etuis and the Dorothy Una Ratcliffe collection of fans and miniatures.

  Archives and Works on Paper

  There are important archives relating to the decorative arts within the collections. These include the archive of the Leeds furniture maker; Hummerston Bros and the exceptionally important collection of Country House sale catalogues.

  There is also a small collection of ornament prints, designs and trade cards.

  Recently there has been a strong drive to collect works on paper illustrating interiors and social history leading to notable acquisitions by William Redmore Bigg and Thomas Rowlandson.

  Modern and Contemporary Applied Arts

  Our collection of British modern applied arts can be broadly divided into five main areas: jewellery, ceramics, metalwork, furniture and textiles. Collecting of contemporary craft began in earnest in 1968 when Lotherton opened to the public. It was decided that Lotherton should be a showcase for British applied arts from the nineteenth century until the present day. Major artists are represented in all areas of the collection. The ceramics collection is particularly strong surveying major artists from the 1930s until the present day.

  Dress and Textiles

  The department of dress and textiles was established in 2008 through the amalgamation of material from the nationally and internationally significant Designated Decorative Arts and Industrial History collections along with related material in the Social History collections. By bringing together the different collection areas under ‘Dress and Textiles’ it has created a significant collection detailing the history of what people have worn in the past, the textiles they have used for their clothing, furnishing and decorating their homes.

  Dress Collection

  The dress collection is predominantly British and consists of clothes and accessories for men, women and children. Although there are a few accessories which date from the 17th century, the majority of the collection dates from the 18th century onwards.

  A large part of the collection has a unique regional significance in that the items have been worn, bought or made in Leeds and the surrounding Yorkshire region.

  However, the collection also represents the wider history of British fashion as it contains items which have been collected for their excellence of cut and construction or for their aesthetic beauty. Of note is the Kenneth Sanderson collection which contains a large quantity of mainly 18th century male and female fashionable clothes and accessories. There are also many items representing high end couture fashion from the end of the 19th century to the 21st century. Outstanding garments include an 1881 dress by Charles Worth, worn by the daughter of a Yorkshire mill owner and a particularly strong collection of garments dating from the 1960s by some of the best known British fashion designers, such as Jean Muir, Bill Gibb, Zandra Rhodes, Vivienne Westwood, Bruce Oldfield, and Philip Treacy.

  Leeds Tailoring

  A significant and unique area of the dress and textiles collection is the large quantity of material relating to the production, finished product, promotion and selling of the nationally important tailoring manufacturing industry in Leeds. There are a few items dating from the start of the rise of the industry in the late 19th to early 20th century but the majority of the objects date to the height of the industry in the 1930s to its decline in the 1980s. The collection includes items such as tools and equipment, suits, photographic archive and promotional material.

  Although a number of the Leeds tailors are represented in the collection, the two Leeds’ manufacturers best represented are Burton and Hepworths.

  Textiles

  The textile collection, of all the areas in the costume and textiles collection, is the widest ranging in terms of date and it includes some extremely rare fragments dating back to the 15th century. The collection contains fragments and also complete items highlighting the wide variety of techniques used in the production of textiles for dress, furnishings and interiors.

  Like the dress, the textile collection has many items with a unique local significance, which illustrate the use or manufacture of textiles in the home, for practical or decorative use, in the Leeds and surrounding area. This includes a large and extensive collection of needlework samplers dating largely from the 18th and 19th century and also many patchwork and quilted bedcovers.

  An important sub-group of the textiles collection is the collection of country house floor coverings including carpets and other coverings. Rare items include early 1800s linoleum and Venetian carpets. These are considered important for understanding the country house interior and have informed restoration projects at Temple Newsam and elsewhere.

  Of particular note in the textiles collection are the exceptional Henry Ginsberg and Roger Warner collections: The Ginsburg Collection consists of European embroideries, silks, linens, lace and printed cottons dating between 1450 and 1900. The core of the collection is printed cottons and contains examples of well-known designs from the best French and English manufacturers of the 1700s, such as Oberkampf from France and Bromley Hall in England. The collection of silks is extremely comprehensive in that it can illustrate the major developments in style and design between 1450 and 1800. It includes examples of dress and furnishing silks from Florence, Lyons and the British manufacturing centre of Spitalfields.

  The Warner collection comprises a significant collection of mainly upholstery fabrics from English country houses, dating from the 1650s to the first quarter of the 1900s.

  Fine Arts

  Our Designated fine art collections have principal strengths in the areas of 18th and early 19th century English watercolours, 20th century British Art, particularly the period 1910 to 1950, and a modern sculpture collection more extensive than any other regional gallery in the UK. There are also significant holdings of late 19th century pictures, particularly strong in the area of Victorian narrative painting, and some high quality French paintings, as well as notable examples of contemporary artists’ moving image works from the last decade of the 20^th century.

  The collections are kept and primarily displayed across three sites, with overall approximately 1300 oil paintings, about 3,000 English watercolours, and 2,000 prints and about 1000 sculptures. The primary elements mentioned above at the city-centre located Leeds Art Gallery, as well as notable collections of ‘Old Master’ and British painting dating from before 1840 at Temple Newsam, while the Gascoigne family paintings and some British Impressionists are shown in the settings of the Edwardian house, Lotherton. In both these latter venues the fine art collections are integral to historic country house displays, and, taken overall, with the Art Gallery which is best described as a gallery of modern and contemporary art, the collections offer visitors, and researchers, a wide range of engagement through different display styles and strategies.

  Victorian Art

  We have collected Victorian pictures since the Art Gallery opened in 1888. Whilst not comprehensive, our collection holds some remarkable works. Of particular note are the landscapes, characterised by Sogne Fjord by Adelsteen Normann, Pre-Raphalite romantic pictures like Waterhouse’s The Lady of Shalott, ‘modern moral subjects’ of everyday life like Holl’s The Village Funeral and Tissot’s the Bridemaid), as well as paintings depicting contemporary events like the war in Afghanistan by The Drums of the Fore and Aft by Edward Hale.

  We are probably most associated with the Leeds artist John Atkinson Grimshaw, the holdings of whose works has grown to encompass the largest of any public collection.

  British and French Painting 1850-1900

  We hold a major collection of French art of the Barbizon school, including important works by Courbet and Corot. We are able to demonstrate the changes since the Renaissance, in particular with the development of realism and impressionism. Andre Derain’s Barges on the Thames, acquired later is a key work in the post-impressionist canon.

  British Art 1900-1920

  The work of Walter Sickert and the grouping around him of young artists known as the Camden Town Group, (Ginner, Gilman and Gore) who were influenced by new European developments are well represented in our collection. Mark Gertler, David Bomberg, Stanley Spencer and Leeds’ own Jacob Kramer were part of this fresh approach, and are all represented with significant, and often multiple works in the collection. We also have major works from the Vorticists painters Nevinson and Wyndham Lewis. The First World War period is also well represented by artists such as Paul Nash.

  British Impressionism and the Sam Wilson Collection

  The Leeds woollen manufacturer, Sam Wilson formed a modern and progressive collection, which was subsequently bequeathed to the city in 1918. Focusing on ‘English Impressionists’ like Mark Senior, Wilson built up a collection of over three hundred paintings, sculptures, oriental porcelain and Gillow furniture. Collecting artists of his own times – notably Frank Brangwyn, Georg Sauter, George Clausen, William Orpen and John Buxton Knight, Wilson’s collection also included several sculptures by Olsen and Alfred Gilbert.

  Modernism. Painting in Britain 1920-1950

  This period is dominated by the artists such as Spencer, Sickert and Matthew Smith and Wadsworth the acquisition of which was driven by gallery director Philip Hendy. Work by most other leading British artists of the period were bought and during the Second World War a pioneering series of exhibitions was held at Temple Newsam, Leeds, featuring emerging ‘new’ artists such as Henry Moore, Paul Nash, Ben Nicholson and Augustus John, thus establishing Leeds’ reputation as a centre for contemporary art.

  Post War British Art 1950-1980

  Significant acquisitions have added some major works from this period; these include significant loans from the Leeds Art (Collections) Fund. One of the most celebrated being Francis Bacon’s Painting 1950. Other artists represented from this period include the Gregory Fellows – a series of artist residencies at Leeds University who included Terry Frost, Alan Davie, Hubert Dalwood, Reg Butler, Kenneth Armitage, Austin Wright, Norman Stevens, John Walker and Keith Milow.

  Art Post-1980

  Painting is still the dominant medium in Leeds Art Gallery’s collection, and acquisitions continue to be made by artists who still use paint in new ways, such as Terry Atkinson and notably by women artists, including Gillian Ayres and Paula Rego.

  More recently, however, we have collected in the expanded arenas of art production, from Stephen Willat’s ‘collagist’ approach in Doppelganger, to Susan Hiller’s Monument, which incorporates audiotape.

  We have embarked on a new direction, acquiring new works by artists working with the moving image and sound, including works by Mark Wallinger, Rosalind Nashashibi, and Tacita Dean. This also involved the Gallery in commissioning artists to make work specifically for the collection. Bill Fontana, Georgina Starr and Mariele Neudecker each produced new work and this direction of travel has continued with a recent commission from Bob & Roberta Smith.

  Sculpture

  The Leeds sculpture collections comprise over 800 objects, 400 works on paper and the Henry Moore Institute Archive of over 270 collections of papers relating to sculptors. These include personal papers, diaries, casting ledgers, photographs and sketch books. The collections are principally British from c.1875 to the present day, although they include works from earlier centuries and other parts of Europe. The Leeds sculpture collections are managed in partnership with the Henry Moore Institute, a specialist centre for the study of sculpture.

  The core of the present collection was established in the mid-twentieth century when Leeds Art Gallery gained a reputation for the perceptive collecting of early modern and contemporary sculpture. The introduction of support from The Henry Moore Foundation, beginning in 1982, and the establishment of the Henry Moore Institute in 1993 confirmed Leeds as an international centre for the study and appreciation of sculpture. Since then, the collection has more than doubled in size and expanded in depth, as well as scope, through the acquisition of historic and contemporary works, sculpture and works on paper, preparatory and finished material.

  The collections seek to narrate the development of sculpture being made in Britain over the last century as broadly as possible by representing neglected practitioners as well as established ones, by incorporating monumental and architectural sculpture by means of drawings, maquettes and archival material, and by using the works on paper collection to represent the scope of contemporary practice alongside acquisitions of three-dimensional work. In recent years there has been a particular focus on conceptual, performance, photographic and other expanded sculptural forms and definitions from the 1960s and 1970s, which traditionally have been considered difficult to collect and as a result are underrepresented in museum collections of sculpture.

  Prints and Drawings

  Today, Leeds boasts one of the finest collections of prints and drawings in Britain, which is predominantly strong in the area of English watercolour. It includes around 3,000 drawings and watercolours of national importance, and a fine collection of around 2,000 English prints with small but high quality collections of European and Japanese prints.

  The story of collecting prints and drawings at Leeds Art Gallery began in 1925 when Robert Hawthorn Kitson, an amateur watercolour artist and member of the Gallery’s sub-committee, set out to create ‘a first rate general collection of watercolours’, in the following inter-war years the acquisition of watercolours became the Gallery’s main focus of collection, when several key purchases including The Ploughed Field by John Sell Cotman and Lake Albano and Castle Gandulfo by John Robert Cozens.

  The Gallery’s expansion in to the field of English watercolours began to attract notable private collectors, which led to important bequests. In 1937 the collector and biographer of John Sell Cotman, Sydney Decimus Kitson, bequeathed a significant share of his Cotman collection. This included major works by Cotman including: Barnard Castle from Towler Hill and nearly 600 Cotman studies.

  In 1952 we received the Lupton collection, which totalled some 500 watercolours and around 400 prints. Not only did it include major works by leading English watercolour artists of the late 18^th century but also a sequence from Turner’s prints for the ‘Liber Studiorum’ and 64 etchings by Rembrandt.

  We have a small, but significant, collection of early European intaglio and relief prints dating from c. 1450. We also have a large number of popular prints with subjects ranging from topography, portraiture to satires. The last century saw us actively collecting other works on paper by living artists including many important names. Most notably: Laura Knight, Paul Nash, William Roberts, Henry Moore, Eric Ravlious, Graham Sutherland and Edward Burra. In recent years the most notable purchased Leeds has made is The Valley of the Washburn by J M W Turner.

  Industrial History

  The Designated industrial collections represent the industries of Leeds through the companies, products and personalities involved. The collections also aim to reflect the working life of Leeds people through their jobs and working environments.

  19th century Leeds was sometimes described as the “City of 100 Trades” and the collections reflect the diversity of different industries which flourished in the area.

  The most significant collecting areas are:

  • Textile machinery
  • The Leeds printing industry
  • Engineering, including locomotive and railway collections of international significance

  We hold material from notable companies and manufacturers such as John Fowler & Co., Vickers PLC, A. Kershaw & Sons, Benjamin Gott, Burtons, Kirkstall Forge and the Hunslet Engine Co. and a wealth of other firms.

  The collections comprise tools, machinery, industrial products, archive ephemera, photographs and other personal records, but do not include substantial company archives.

  Leeds Social and Community History

  The Leeds social history collections started with an emphasis on “bygones” and folk life in the 1920s. Reconstructed street displays at Abbey House were added in the 1950s. Traditional strengths have been in the areas of childhood (toys and games), retailing history, domestic life, musical instruments, slot machines and automata and printed ephemera. This has resulted in a rich and wide-ranging collection of social history material (over 100,000 items).

  Significant specific collections include:

  • The Ernestine Henry Collection of material relating to chimney sweeps
  • The Waddington archive (games and puzzles)
  • Burmantofts and Leeds pottery
  • The Leonora Cohen suffragette archive

  The emphasis for recent collecting has been material with a strong local provenance relating to Leeds history and manufacture or association with Leeds people, through partnership with community organisations, from the post-medieval period to the present day.

  Recent contemporary collecting projects have included work with over twenty different communities including Leeds Irish, Polish, Afro-Caribbean, Sikh, Muslim and environmental groups like Leeds in Bloom, Groundwork and BTCV. Each time we have pursued themes which have included: Steps in Time (Dance), Faith in the City, a Greener City and Food for Thought, Leeds Music Festival.

  Lotherton

  Lotherton is an historic house, mainly of the late Victorian and Edwardian periods. It was formerly the home of the Gascoigne family who gave it to the City of Leeds in 1968. It came into public ownership fully furnished with the family collection of paintings, sculpture, silver, jewellery, furniture and ceramics. These comprise the Gascoigne Gift which comprises something over 900 items, including objects which the family had already given to the City when the main gift was made. The gifts continued up to the bequest of Lady Gascoigne in 1979, she being the last member of the family to live in the house.

  Lotherton was established as a museum of art from 1800 to the present day, the theory being that it would tell the story of the decorative arts in Britain from 1800 to the present day while Temple Newsam told the same story from 1500-1800.

  Further development of the collections was made possible by the Lotherton Endowment Fund, which was given by the family for the enhancement of the collections. Space was created in the building to display costume and Oriental art, particularly the Sanderson collection of historic costume and the Savery collection of Oriental ceramics. Family items seen as not being of museum quality were sold or returned to the family to make way for new acquisitions which now included modern and contemporary British craft and fashion, complementing the modern fine art at Leeds Art Gallery and the historic Sanderson items. The City already owned a few pieces of modern ceramic; to these more were added, together with furniture, metalwork, jewellery and flat textiles.

  By this process the collections multiplied threefold to more than 2,700 items’. A fifth strand to Lotherton’s collecting became possible from 1994 onwards with the loan of 78 items from the Cooper collection of Victoriana and Edwardiana, particularly high-art furniture most of which is shown at Lotherton. In recent years, new emphasis has been given to the social history of the house, it has meant a new determination to acquire items with a Gascoigne family provenance, this being taken to include the families with whom they intermarried.

  Militaria

  Some extremely interesting items mainly European firearms, armour, swords and bayonets dating from circa 1450 to 1945. The firearms are a mixture of ‘live’ and antique weapons.

  Natural History

  The natural science collection comprises around 800,000 specimens, and is hugely diverse in terms of subject area, specimen type, and taxonomic range. It is Designated as being of national and international significance.

  The geology collection includes a wide range of fossils, minerals, rocks and meteorites, telling the story of our planet’s history. Yorkshire’s geology is very well represented, and the mineralogy collection is a particular strength comprising a range of British and largely European specimens including some significant rarities and a modest collection of cut and polished gemstones. There are a number of type and figured specimens in the fossil collection and some rare assemblages of excavated cave material including Raygill fissure and Victoria Cave. Highlights of the palaeontology collection include a Giant Deer (formerly Irish elk) skeleton, ichthyosaur skeletons, and the Armley Hippo.

  The zoology collection includes shells, skeletal material, microscope slides, taxidermy, skins, eggs and spirit specimens. This material represents a vast range of biodiversity including vertebrates, arthropods and molluscs.

  The conchology collection (shells) is a particular strength with massive research value, as well as being a valuable resource for learning and display. We hold a range of type and figured material, such as specimens collected by Sylvanus Hanley and material described by Terry Crowley.

  The taxidermy collection, including historic as well as recent specimens, is very popular with visitors of all ages, and is an inspiration for artists and scientists alike. We hold taxidermied specimens of endangered species including snow leopard, kakapo, and giant panda, and extinct species such as thylacine, huia, passenger pigeon and hyacinth macaw. These are hugely important for education, display and research purposes. Sadly, museums such as ours are now the only place where many of these species can be seen or researched. Highlights of our osteology collection include five skulls of the extinct thylacine, and skeletal material from extinct birds such as dodo, great auk, and moa. We hold a range of entomology material covering all insect orders, including insects collected in Yorkshire and around the world.

  We hold one of the world’s best collections of fig wasps, collected and recently donated by Dr Stephen Compton. We have a strong collection of butterflies and moths collected both locally and abroad, including specimens of extinct and endangered species. Our botany collection includes thousands of mounted plant specimens and seeds, as well as dried fungus, mosses and lichen. The flora of Leeds and Yorkshire are well represented, and has recently been made more accessible to the public and researchers through the Museum to Meadow Effective Collections initiative.

  From mysterious seeds to the oldest rocks, tiny fleas to huge mammoth tusks, or aardvarks to zebras, our collections are a valuable resource for anyone wishing to find out more about the world around them.

  Numismatics

  The 20,000+ coins, tokens, medals and other items in the numismatic collections include ancient coins, modern coins and paper money, as well as medals, medallions and associated material. The collection also includes local historical material and large numbers of modern European coins.

  Ancient coins

  There are approximately 8,000 coins from the ancient world in the numismatic collections, including a variety of Iron Age, ancient Greek, Republican and Imperial Roman, Byzantine, Viking, Medieval, and post-Medieval coinage. This also includes local coin hoards and coins from archaeological archives. There is also a large collection of ancient coin casts and coin moulds. The most significant collection of ancient coins is George Baron’s generous bequest of 2,000 gold, silver and bronze coins acquired by Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society in 1854.

  Modern money

  We hold an extensive collection of British, European and International coinage from the 17th century up to the present day. Part of the collection reflects national changes in currency and spending practices in the UK, for example decimalisation, early cheques, credit cards, etc. Other highlights of the collection include coins and banknotes from across the world, and alternative world currencies, both ancient and modern.

  Military and Commemorative Medals

  There are about 1,000 military medals and decorations in the collection relating to campaigns and individuals worldwide, but many with a local connection. This is augmented by substantial collections of regimental badges and military buttons. There is also a variety of local commemorative coins and medals, British historical medals and royal commemorative medals in the collection, as well as a more miscellaneous selection of medal series’ mainly acquired in the 19th century (for example, papal medals donated by George Baron and R.L.P Jowitt in the mid-1800s).

  Other

  Other collections of note include British and Yorkshire tokens, casts of Medieval and post-Medieval seals (royal, monastic, and heraldic), and historical ephemera relating to the collection. There is also a variety of miscellaneous material which ranges from Royal Maundy money to 1970s chocolate coins!

  Temple Newsam

  Temple Newsam has become celebrated for the fine collections of decorative arts, especially furniture, silver, ceramics, textiles and wallpapers, which have been built up since 1922 when the estate was bought from the Hon Edward Wood (later Earl Halifax) by the City of Leeds and developed as a country house museum. In 1922 almost all the contents of the house were sold or removed by the family, but from the 1930’s onwards strenuous efforts were made to refurnish the house, which today the basis of the collection consists of material from the families which lived there, particularly the paintings and furniture and forms what now makes up one of the finest publicly owned collections of English decorative art outside London.

  There are many fine paintings that have hung in the house ever since they were painted and their future here has been secured in a number of ways. In 1948 the gift by Lord Halifax included the Italian pictures bought by the 4th Viscount in Venice in 1705 and the family portraits commissioned from the fashionable French portraitist Philip Mercier in the 1740’s. The Reynolds portrait of Lady Hertford, which she probably brought to the house when she took up residence here c 1808, was bought back for Temple Newsam by the National Art Collections Fund in 1952. Several more family portraits have returned to the house over the years. Old master paintings are a feature of the house the walls having in the past been adorned with Rubens, Titian and Claude Lorraine notable works we have are G B Pellegrini’s large Hector and Andromache, the horse portraits of Aleppo and Mother Neasham and Henry Morland’s painting, The Fair Nun Unmasked.

  The furnishings tell a similar story. The furniture supplied for the Gallery by James Pascall in 1745 was by far the most important made for Temple Newsam in the 18th century and efforts to gather it back have been largely successful. Otherwise the house has been refurnished with objects of the highest quality, some made for Temple Newsam, other for other British country houses, often by the finest craftsmen of their day. So comprehensive is the collection now, that stylistic developments in England from the 16th to the 19th centuries can be studied in depth.

  Of particular significance in the masterpiece of early neo-classicism in the library writing table made for Harewood House by Thomas Chippendale around 1771. Documented examples of Chippendale furniture, lent by the Chippendale Society, make Temple Newsam an essential place of pilgrimage for all those interested in the celebrated cabinet-maker’s work. There are miscellaneous items of clothing worn and objects used by family members and textiles relating to the furnishing of Temple Newsam. Archives and photographs relating to the archaeology and history of the house and family are also kept.

  World Cultures

  Leeds has over 12,000 items in its World Cultures collections, making it the largest centre for this collection focus in Yorkshire. Asia is best represented, particularly China and India, then Africa, followed by the Americas, Oceania and lastly Europe outside the UK. Star items include Chinese dragon robes, Japanese armour, a full-size Indian door and cart, Javanese shadow puppets, Tibetan skull cups, African masks and sculpture, a Marquesan club, early Woodlands moccasins, and Moche and Nazca pottery from Peru. There is a large handling collection of Plains American material bequeathed by friends of a local enthusiast and a good selection of masks, puppets and musical instruments world-wide.

  During the last 60 years the collection has been enhanced with substantial loans from the University of Leeds and Rotherham, and the ‘rescue’ of the world collections from other English local authorities, with major transfers from Worthing and Hampshire. Now our focus has re-centred on representing the world links of residents of Leeds and Yorkshire, including the links that newer communities have with their countries of origin through our community history programme. The World collections are seen as important in forging cross-cultural links across a whole range of disciplines through such elements as music and masquerade, ceramics, costume and textiles and figure sculpture. There are many overlaps with Decorative Arts, Archaeology and the Social History collections.

  Agricultural History

  This collection is managed by the Parks Department of Leeds City Council, and therefore not part of the

  Leeds Museums & Galleries Collections. It is worth mentioning here as the collection is located at Home Farm, Temple Newsam and is an area of collections that LM&G does not hold or collect.

  The collection is predominantly based around agriculture, horticulture and estate management, but also includes domestic items associated with the working lives of the estate staff and their families. There is a reasonably large collection of horse-drawn transport, including private drive vehicles.

  The date ranges from 1694 to 1968, from the building of the great barn to the end of the dairying operation, with few objects pre-dating the late 19th century.

  Most of the objects have been collected from the Yorkshire area with a few from other northern counties.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: Not known

  Licence: CC BY-NC