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Photographic Collection

This large collection predominantly features local views, people and activities and falls into seven separate collections, two of which were made by local newspaper photographers.

Subjects

Photographic equipment

Science and Industry Collection

Bridport achieved international fame as a manufacturing centre for rope, twine and net. The rope, twine and net collection is a strength of this museum. The first surviving written record of the industry occurs in the 1211 pipe roll of William Malet, sheriff of Dorset and Somerset. The wealth of the town was founded on this industry with which most of the population was involved. The one surviving firm is Gundry plc. The collection includes two net-making machines; two rope/twine jacks; a balling machine; a yarn press; two skirders; tools; braiding needles; samples of rope, twine and net; hackles; a twine cart of 1908; and other implements. Archive material supports this collection.

Subjects

Science and Industry; Manufacturing

Biology Collection

The most notable collection is that bequeathed in 1946 by the Rev A B Hutton, former rector of Loders. It comprises 250 cases of birds and mammals, including foreign specimens. There are also local herbaria; birds eggs; lepidoptera; and one collection of foreign shells.

Subjects

Biology

Decorative and Applied Art Collection

This collection comprises: a small collection of bottles, come of local origin such as from Cornick’s Jam Factory; a small number of ceramic items, several of which are commemorative; a few items of furniture; and one stone clock casting by a local stone mason.

Subjects

Decorative and Applied Arts

Geology Collection

The majority of geology specimens are local, from the area between Lyme Regis and Burton Bradstock. There is the Hansford collection of fossils from Morcombelake and Charmouth by Barney Hansford. A recent addition is a fossil of Sauro-Rhynchus discovered in 1990 at West Bay.

Subjects

Geology

Archaeology Collection

There is a small collection of archaeology, the main aspects of which relate to material from two Roman sites. The James Ralls collection was excavated at Waddon Hill between 1876 and 1886 and includes Roman military artefacts. The Tolley collection derives from Webster’s excavations at Waddon Hill between 1959 and 1969. It includes a bronze bust of Mercury; a bronze bull; a leather scabbard; brooches; intaglios; dice; needles; military artefacts; glass vessels; and pottery vessels.

Subjects

Archaeology

Social History Collection

Social history items in the collection include agricultural material relating to the dairy; arable farming; stock farming and rural crafts and include; a plough; a milking stool; butter churns; sieves; ladles; skimmers; a seed fiddle; rakes; hoes; scythes; calf muzzles; horse and ox shoes; threshers; shears; thatching tools; and milling tools. There is a small collection of objects relating to Bridport’s commercial life including trade bills, paper bags and other packaging; and products sold. Dr Giles Roberts (1766-1834) was a local apothecary. There is a significant collection relating to him, his successor apothecaries, then pharmacists, and his apothecary shop, his medicines and the Methodist Church. The collection includes oil paintings; ceramic medicine jars; books; magazines; correspondence; documents; personal possessions; and an iron ‘old man on a horse’ which stood on the roof of the apothecary shop (and is presumed to have been on the roof of the George Inn which preceded it on the site).

Subjects

Social History

Fine Art Collection

The collection includes oil paintings and works of art on paper. Local artists represented include: Alfred Percy Codd (1957-1941); Alfred Earnest Champ (c.1868-1928); Francis Henry Newbery (1851-1946); Henry Walton; F E Tighe; A Hodder; George Biles; and Eric Bray. The Codd collection comprises watercolours and sketches by Codd including a series of copies of Turner watercolours; and 19th and 20th century pictures collected by Codd during travels in England and on the continent. There are four oil paintings and one watercolour by Francis Henry Newbery; five oil paintings and ten watercolours by Arthur Champ; seven oil paintings of the Marshwood Vale by Henry Walton; one oil painting and several watercolours and pen and ink drawings by Eric Bray.

Subjects

Fine Art

Costume and Textile Collection

The costume collection ranges in date from an 18th century hand-painted silk gown from Paris to a 1970s wedding dress purchased in Fenwick’s and worn in 1974 by a local woman. It is chiefly female attire, but includes some male dress such as uniform and agricultural clothing; household linens; and embroideries. The highlights of the collection are an Edwardian tea gown; a Worth gown and accessories worn at a court presentation by a local woman in 1930; a National Fire Service jacket worn by Edward Reynolds, the first Captain of the Bridport Fire Brigade in 1896; and a mayoral robe designed and worn by Edward Reynolds in 1919. There is a good range of accessories including footwear; bags; fans; parasols; gloves; glove stretchers; headwear; hatpins; and spectacles. There is some jewellery and a variety of decorative ornaments including stamp holders and card cases. The small lace collection is not local. There are also dolls in costume from both Britain and abroad. The Rev Dr Donald Omand, former rector of Chideock (d.1971) gave his collection of dolls collected over a number of years from circus folk. The collection includes a fabric sailor doll from clown Grock, wooden figures, terracotta figures, Peggy Nisbet dolls, and other commercially manufactured dolls.

Subjects

Costume and Textile

Numismatics Collection

The highlight of the small coin collection is a William I Bridport penny.

Subjects

Numismatics

Medals Collection

There is a small collection of military and commemorative medals.

Subjects

Medals

Arms and Armour Collection

This small collection consists of firearms including duelling pistols, a rifle, a fowling weapon and a starting cannon.

Subjects

Arms and Armour

Archives Collection

The collection includes documents relating to local families, commercial firms and local organisations and comprises deeds; mortgages; contracts; marriage settlements; invoices; minute books; etc. Also 19th century newspapers; broadsheets; programmes; paper souvenirs and other ephemera. There is a large number of Ordnance Survey maps 1820s-1960s. There is a large archive of the Reynolds family dating to between the 1860s and the 1950s and comprising personal and official correspondence; ledgers; diaries; and other archival material. Some of this material has been placed on deposit at the Dorset County Record Office.

Subjects

Archives

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Maritime

Brightlingsea’s connection with the Cinque ports; material associated with the boat building firms of the Aldous family and James and Stone; late 19th century and early 20th century ocean going racing yachts associated with the town; Brightlingsea’s connection with the America’s Cup; navigational instruments; ship models; items associated with sprat, whitebait and oyster fishing.; Small collection of archaeological finds from the Roman site at Moverons. Brightlingsea’s connection with the Cinque ports is a significant part of the museum and is represented by regalia, ceremonial artefacts and ephemera.; Shipwrights tools, including a large carpenter’s seagoing chest, complete with contents.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Maritime

The collection features a full-size boat, boat models, fishing artefacts and other memorabilia associated with the fishing industry and seafront life from the Regency days to the post-war boom in pleasure boat operations.

Photographic

The museum has a large collection of visual images including many photographs, postcards and prints. There is a compilation of late nineteenth and early twentieth century films depicting the Brighton and Sussex sea fishing industry and the associated beach leisure trade (copyright South East Film and Video Archive).

Oral History

The museum has a complete copy of the QueenSpark ‘Catching Stories’ oral history archive, comprising audiotapes and transcripts of interviews with members of Brighton’s fishing community.

Archives

The museum’s main archive at present comprises some 6400 items of historical record stored on computer and backed up with original material or hard copies. In addition we have copies of many of the registration records of local fishing boats. The original 1891 census of the coastal towns from Shoreham through Brighton to Newhaven, an abstract of the 1881 census of Sussex, and an abstract from the 1851 census of Brighton are all held on microfiche. Census data relating to the fishing community is being posted on a computer and there is also a substantial family history resource available to the public. There is a small but growing library of fishing, maritime, local history, workshop, folk and museum books and periodicals.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Transport Collection

The range of 60 historic commercial vehicles covers the development of powered road transportation in Britain from the 1890s onwards focussing on the British commercial vehicle transportation and production industries. Vehicles include the 1896 Thorneycroft Steam Van – Britain’s first powered commercial vehicle; 1931 Beardmore Cobra – the first articulated vehicle; 1968 experimental Leyland Gas Turbine Truck; the ‘Popemobile’ built for a visit in 1981. Associated material includes general transport memorabilia, advertising materials and models depicting the manufacture and operation of commercial vehicles in the 20th century.

Subjects

Transport

Photographic Collection

There is an associated glass plate negative collection from British Leyland and a collection of half a million negatives and prints. There is also historic film footage.

Subjects

Photographic equipment

Archives Collection

The Trust owns an extensive archive of 1900s material relating to Leyland DAF together with an extensive archive from the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust. Material relates to companies within the Leyland vehicles group and also includes drawings and literature (see also photographic).

Subjects

Archives

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collections of the BDA Museum comprise approximately 25,000 objects relating to all aspects of dental history in the UK and the development of the dental profession. Subject areas include anaesthesia, conservation, diagnosis, extraction, furniture, human remains, hygiene, military, orthodontic, prosthetics, sterilisation, surgery, BDA history, fine art, photographs and archival material.

Period of Time/ and or Geographical Area to which the Collection Relates

Geographical

The BDAM Collections represent the geographical boundaries of the BDA namely the United Kingdom (Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland).

In exceptional cases objects from Eire, and other nations worldwide will be acquired if they relate to the Mission Statement of the BDAM, and if they meet one or more of the acquisition criteria.

Chronological

The chronological focus of the BDAM’s collections commences approximately from the mid seventeenth century to the present day, the era in which specific dental instruments and practice developed.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2020

Licence: CC BY-NC

The British Motor Industry Heritage Trust is based on a company, Leyland Historic Vehicles, which was formed in 1975 as an integral part of British Leyland which, in turn, evolved into Rover Group. BMIHT was incorporated in 1983 as an independent charity. It was proposed to expand the activities to cover all aspects of vehicle manufacture within Great Britain and Northern Ireland and all the major vehicle and component manufacturers were invited to become involved.

BMIHT’s collections are largely founded on the vehicle and archive collections of the founding companies of the former British Leyland organisation.

For a period from the late 1980s until 2000, over 70% of all income was derived either directly or indirectly from Rover Group and all the staff had been employed by Rover Group or its predecessor companies since the foundation of the organisation in 1975. For that reason, collecting at that time focused on the British motor company marques owned by Rover Group.

Following the division of Rover Group in 2000, BMIHT and the British Motor Museum the remit of BMIHT has reverted to encompass all motor manufacturers in Britain, reflecting its name and the history of the industry.

From the late 1970s until 2000, BMIHT collected first or last production vehicles (as appropriate) from models manufactured by the Rover Group companies. From 2000, this policy has been confined to Land Rover products.

Through deliberate policy, since 2000 BMIHT has added vehicles from other (non-Rover Group / British Leyland) British motor manufacturers to its Collection and these now form a more significant part of the Collection. Similarly, archive material from other motor manufacturers, such as Aston Martin, has also been added in past decade. In addition, the Trust manages and displays Vauxhall’s collection of historic vehicles although the ownership remains with Vauxhall Motors.

In recognition of the national (and international) significance of the entirety of BMIHT’s collections, they were awarded Designation status by Arts Council England in 2014.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

BMIHT’s collections comprise a unique collection of historic vehicles and the finest archive of British motor-industry related material in the World, covering a span of more than 120 years, as old as the industry itself. The entire collections have Arts Council England Designation status.

1. The Vehicle Collection numbers around 330 vehicles, which describe the British motor industry from the earliest products to the latest models. These include some of the most famous and significant motor cars produced in Britain, racing cars, unique prototypes which influenced the direction of the industry, together with those more ordinary models which graced the roads of the World.It is strong in the marques Austin, Morris, Land Rover, MG and Rover and in the years 1950 onwards. The Collection, however, does stretch back to the late 19th century and includes some of the most important early British motor cars. There is also a handful of cycles and pedal cars in the Collection.
2. BMIHT’s Archive Collection contains workshop manuals, handbooks, sales brochures and motoring magazines which document not just important technical information but also a wealth of social history in their style and illustration. The comprehensive accumulation of production records details the history of millions of individual vehicles. There are business records which contain the raw material for the history for many of Britain’s motor manufacturers and suppliers. There are also more personal records, including those of the life and work of three of the industry’s most important figures – Herbert Austin, William Morris and Alec Issigonis.The centrepiece of the Archive Collection is one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of photographic images and moving film anywhere, illustrating the social and industrial development of the twentieth century. More than one million images record the production of the motor car from its outset, life and work in the factories, war time activities, the people that shaped the industry, famous personalities and the ever-changing landscape of Britain as it was shaped by the motor industry.

   The Archive Collection also includes material from associated industries, significantly the archives of the Lucas company. In 2005 the extraordinary Nick Baldwin archive of photographs, brochures, press releases and related documents was acquired, increasing the scope of the BMIHT’s Archive Collection.

3. Relative to the quantity of vehicles and archive material, BMIHT has fewer smaller objects. These smaller objects include company trophies, models (including design models), manufacturing items (hand tools etc.), some paintings and framed photographs and other company motoring ephemera. Nevertheless, some of the objects are unique or of high historical significance in themselves.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

Department of Prehistory and Europe

The Department of Prehistory and Europe is responsible for collections that cover a vast expanse of time from the earliest human tools in Africa and Asia 2 million years ago to the art and archaeology of Europe from the earliest times to the present day, including the history of Britain under Roman occupation.

Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities

The Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities of the British Museum has one of the most comprehensive collections of antiquities from the Classical world, with over 100,000 objects. These mostly range in date from the beginning of the Greek Bronze Age (about 3200BC) to the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine in the 4th century AD, with some pagan survivals. The Cycladic, Minoan and Mycenaean cultures are represented, and the Greek collection includes important sculpture from the Parthenon in Athens, as well as elements of two of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Mausoleum at Halikarnassos and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. The Department also houses one of the widest-ranging collections of Italic and Etruscan antiquities and extensive groups of material from Cyprus. The collections of ancient jewellery and bronzes, Greek vases and Roman glass and silver are particularly important.

Department of Ethnography

The collections of the Department of Ethnography comprise around 350,000 objects, representing the cultures of indigenous peoples throughout the world. Their scope is both contemporary and historical, and focus on Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Pacific and Australia, the Americas and Eastern Europe. The bulk of the material was acquired in the 19th and 20th centuries and largely dates from this time. Collecting continues today and fieldwork currently being carried out in Alaska, the Southwestern United States, Romania and Tunisia has resulted in some recent acquisitions which have already been exhibited.

Department of the Ancient Near East

The Department of the Ancient Near East covers the ancient civilisations of the Near East from the Neolithic period until the arrival of Islam in the 7th century AD. There is a wide range of archaeological material and ancient art from Mesopotamia (Iraq); Iran; the Levant (Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Israel); Anatolia (Turkey); Arabia; Central Asia and the Caucasus. Highlights of the collection include Assyrian reliefs, treasure from the Royal Cemetery of Ur, the Oxus Treasure, Phoenician ivories and the library of cuneiform tablets from Nineveh.

Department of Prints and Drawings

The Department of Prints and Drawings contains the national collection of Western prints and drawings. It is one of the top three collections of its kind in the world. There are approximately 50,000 drawings and over two million prints dating from the beginning of the 15th century up to the present day. They cover the history of drawing and printmaking as fine arts, with large holdings of the works of such important artists as Drer, Michelangelo, Raphael, Rembrandt and Goya. There are also large documentary collections of historical, satirical and topographical prints, as well as important collections of printed ephemera, such as trade and visiting cards, fans and playing cards. The Department also has the most extensive reference library in the United Kingdom relating to the history of prints and drawings, comprising about 50,000 books, periodicals and sale catalogues. There is a small collection of illustrated books, but the national collection of these is in the British Library. Oriental drawings and prints are kept in the Department of Asia.

Department of Asia

The scope of the Department of Asia is extremely wide: its collections cover the material remains of the whole Asian continent from the Neolithic up to the present day. The pre-Neolithic material is curated by the Department of Prehistory and Europe. There are exceptions, the biggest being Near Eastern archaeology before Islam, which is covered by the Department of the Ancient Near East, coins in the Department of Coins and Medals, and ethnographic material in the Department of Ethnography. The interests of the Department covers a vast area geographically and historically, including Asian culture from China and Korea to Turkey, from Central Asia to Indonesia, and even in the case of Islam extending beyond Asia to North Africa and Spain. Focus is in particular on the cultures of China, India, and Islam. Key areas of the collections include the most comprehensive collection of sculpture from the Indian subcontinent in the world, including the celebrated Buddhist limestone reliefs from Amaravati as well as an outstanding collection of Chinese antiquities, paintings, and porcelain, lacquer, bronze, jade, and other applied arts including the collection of Buddhist paintings from Dunhuang in Central Asia and the Admonitions Scroll by Gu Kaizhi and a broad range of Islamic pottery, paintings, tiles, metalwork, glass, seals, and inscriptions. The Department also houses one of the most comprehensive collections of Japanese material culture in Europe, comprising about 25,000 objects. The collection includes early archaeological material; the arts of Buddhism; secular sculpture; netsuke and inro; lacquerware; swords and sword furniture; metalwork; secular paintings, prints and printed books; textiles; ceramics including porcelain and tea ceremony wares and utensils. For the pre-20th century, the decorative arts are among the finest in the Western world, while for paintings and prints the collection is pre-eminent within Europe, both for scope and quality.

Numismatic Collection

The Department of Coins and Medals is home to one of the world’s finest numismatic collections, comprising about one million objects. The collection spans the entire history of coinage from its origins in the 7th century BC to the present day, and related material such as coin weights, tokens and money-boxes. The Department also holds the national collection of paper money, ranging from one of the earliest 14th-century Chinese banknotes to the euro, as well as a magnificent selection of commemorative and art medals from the Italian Renaissance to the present. The collection of British coins and tokens is the most extensive and complete in the world, comprising around 175,000 items. The collection aims to thoroughly document and represent the history of British coinage and currency from the earliest Anglo-Saxon coins of the 7th century AD to the present day. This collection is subdivided into the issues of England, Scotland and Ireland and is generally organised by reign. Tokens and other paranumismatica are organised by type: private tokens (17th, 18th and 19th centuries), coin weights, tickets, passes, jettons etc. The collection of European and World coins in the British Museum consists of around 300,000 objects and is among the most wide-ranging and representative in the world, covering the rich and complex coinages of medieval and early modern Europe, the coinages of the European colonial empires and the modern coinages of the Americas, Africa and Oceania. The Medal Collection comprises c. 70,000 objects, from Italian Renaissance medals of the 15th century to contemporary medals made by artists around the world today. In addition, the department’s 12,000 badge collection covers 19th and 20th centuries with a particular focus on political badges. These come from all round the world, with Britain and the USA particularly well represented. The majority are post-WWII with a concentration of material from the 1970s and 1980s. The Greek Collection contains over 61,000 Greek coins and 28,000 Greek Imperial coins, covering Spain, Gaul, Italy, Greece and the Balkans, the Black Sea, Asia Minor, the Near and Middle East, Arabia and North Africa. It is subdivided into two chronological sections: Greek coinage from the beginnings of coinage in the 7th century BC to 31 BC, and Greek Imperial coinage (also known as Roman Provincial coinage) from 31 BC to mid 3rd century AD. The Greek section also includes related coin series such as Punic (the Carthaginian Empire), Judaean (Ancient Jewish), and Axumite (the ancient kingdom of Northern Ethiopia). The Roman Collection consists of approximately 115,000 objects produced at Rome and across the Empire from the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD. These are mostly coins (gold, silver and base metal), but also includes medallions, ingots, tokens, coin weights and even a couple of coin dies. There are also about 6,000 ancient coin forgeries and 5,000 modern forgeries of Roman coins (some created as early as the Renaissance). The Byzantine section (AD 498-1453) consists of around 12,000 coins in gold, silver and copper-alloy. This includes the ‘Barbarian’ coinages of the successor kingdoms to the Western Roman Empire (such as the Goths, Vandals, Franks and Lombards) who remained in the orbit of Constantinople. The pre-Islamic Iranian collection includes coins of the Parthian and Sasanian dynasties, covering the period of c. 3rd century BC to the 7th century AD. The Islamic Collection begins with the earliest Arab-Sasanian and Arab Byzantine coinage in the 7th century AD, the Islamic reformed coins of the Umayyads, as well as later dynasties. Included in the collection are also Ottoman, Safavids and modern coins of the Middle East. The Modern Money collection includes more than 175,000 coins, tokens and paper money dating from 1700 to the present day, covering Africa, the Americas, Europe and Australasia. Active contemporary collecting means that several thousand new objects are added to the collection each year, including not just coins and paper money, but also credit cards and other contemporary money-related objects. There are very significant holdings of British colonial coins and notes, including important early American coins and coins and notes transferred from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The department also has on permanent loan the collection of the Institute of Financial Services (formerly the Chartered Institute of Bankers).

Subjects

Numismatics; Money; Metrology; Tokens; Tickets; Medals; Bank notes; Coins; Trade tokens

Ancient Egyptian and Sudanese Collection

The museum holds over well over 80,000 ancient Egyptian and Sudanese objects. Classes of objects represented in the collection include: amulets; animal remains (mummies); basketry/ropes; canopic boxes; canopic jars; coffins; coins; cosmetic palettes; faience figures; faience vessels; flints; food/plant material; foundation deposits; funerary cones; furniture; glass vessels; jewellery; human remains (mummies); metal figures; metal vessels; musical instruments; offering tables; ostraca; papyri; pottery; ‘ Ptah-Sokar-Osiris’ figures; relief sculpture; sarcophagi (stone); scarabs/sealings; shabtis; shabti boxes; soul houses; stelae (stone); stelae (wood); stone figures; stone vessels; textiles/leather; toilet articles; tomb models; tools/weapons; wall paintings; wooden figures. In addition, there is a collection of over six million prehistoric artefacts from excavations between 1963 and 1997 in Egypt and the Sudan conducted by Fred Wendorf, Emeritus Professor of Prehistory at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. There is also the Rosemarie and Dietrich Klemm collection of some thousands stone samples from pharaonic stone quarries. Objects are known to have come from the following locations in Egypt (with the name of the excavator/sponsor and year of excavation given where possible): Abu Hommus (Petrie, acq. 1885); Abu Roash (inc. Petrie, acq. 1884); Abu Simbel (Belzoni, acq. 1835; Wendorf, acq. 2001); Abuqir; Abusir (the Memphite one); Abydos ([?], 1897; inc. Amelineau, acq. 1965; Brunton, acq. 1991; EEF, acq. 1900-3; acq. 1909-14, acq. 1922, acq. 1925-7, acq. 1976, acq. 1979, acq. 1982, acq. 1985; acq. 1988; ERA, acq. 1979; Garstang, 1908-9, acq. 1912, acq. 1920-1; Naville, Hall, Peet [EEF], acq. 1910; Petrie [EEF], acq. 1902); Akhmim (inc. EEF, acq. 1885; Hogarth, acq. 1907); Alexandria; Amarna (inc. EEF/EES, acq. 1921-7, acq. 1929-35, acq. 1937, acq. 1974, acq. 1976, acq. 1983-7, acq. 1994, acq. 1939; Petrie, acq. 1891, acq. 1894, acq. 1930); El-Amrah (EEF, acq. 1900-1; EES, acq. 1922); el-Araba el-Madfuna; Armant (inc. Mond, acq. 1929; EES, acq. 1928-9, acq. 1931, acq. 1935, acq. 1985, acq. 1988, acq. 1997); el-Ashmunein (BM Exped. to Middle Egypt, acq. 1979, acq. 1986); Asiut (inc. Hogarth, acq. 1907); Aswan; Atfih; Awlad Yehia; Badari (inc. Brunton [BSAE], 1924-5, acq. 1923-5, acq. 1929); Oxyrhynchus (inc. BSAE, acq. 1922; EEF/EES, acq. 1903, acq. 1905-7, acq. 1910-11, acq. 1919, acq. 1935, acq. 1968, acq. 1979; Hall, Naville [EEF], acq. 1906); el-Bawiti; Ballas (inc. Brunton, acq. 1991; Garstang, acq. 1982; Petrie, acq. 1895); Benha; Benha el-Assal; Beni Hasan (inc. EEF, acq. 1895; Garstang, acq. 1903-5, acq. 1956); Berenike; Bir Kiseiba (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Bir Sahara (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Bir Tarfawi (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Bulaq; Cairo; Cynopolis; Dahshur; Dakhla oasis (Wendorf, acq. 2001); el-Dakka; Damanhur; Deir el-Dyk; Deir el-Ezba; Deir el-Bersha; Deir Balyza; Deir el-Bersha (EEF, acq. 1894); Deir Manaos; Derr; Dendera; Dishasha; Dra Abu el-Naga; Edfu (inc. Wendorf, acq. 2001); Edwa; Elephantine; Esna (Garstang, 1905, also acq. 1982); Fayum (BSAE, inc. 1927; Wendorf, acq. 2001 and 2004; EEF, acq. 1890, acq. 1902; Hogarth, acq. 1907; Petrie, acq. 1888, acq. 1935 and acq. 1994); Gebel Kibli; Gebelein (Maspero, acq. 1885); Gebel Kibli; Girga; Girza; Giza (Covington, acq. 1910; Petrie, acq. 1897); Gilf Kebir (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Great Sand Sea (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Gumaiyima (EEF, acq. 1887; Petrie, acq. 1887); Hammamiya (BSAE, acq. 1924); Hawara (EEF, acq. 1890; Petrie, acq. 1888, acq 1890, acq. 1912, acq. 1935, acq. 1958, acq. 1994); Hezab; el-Hiba; el-Hissaya (Garstang, acq. 1905); Hu (inc. EEF, acq. 1899); Ihnasya el-Medina (EEF, acq. 1979; Petrie, acq. 1904); El Kab (EES, acq. 1976); Kalabsha; Kamoula; Khallaf; el-Kharga; Kharga Oasis (Wendorf, acq. 2001); el-Khatana; Khizam; Kom Abu Billo; Kom Afrin; Kom el-Ahmar (Emery, acq. 1971; Garstang, acq. 1905 and acq. 1982); Kom Aushim (Rubaiyat); Kom el-Dahab; Kom Faris; Kom el-Kharaba el-Kebir; Gurob (Petrie, 1890; Petrie, acq. 1912, acq. 1923 [not clear if these might be from the 1890 excav.]); Kom Ombo; Kum Zimran; el-Lahun (EEF [Petrie], acq. 1890, acq. 1912, acq. 1926); Medamud; el-Mahalla; Mahasna; Meydum (Petrie, inc. acq. 1897; University of Colorado Museum, 1962-66, acq 2004); Makattam; el-Kubra; Lahun (EEF, acq. 1890); Lisht; el-Mabda; el-Maharraqa; Manfalut; Matariya (EES, acq. 1923-4, acq. 1926-27; Hekekyan, acq. 1861); Matmar (Brunton, acq. 1930-2); Medinet el-Fayum (Petrie, acq. 1937); Medinet Habu; Meir; Memphis (BSAE [Petrie], acq. 1910; BSAE, acq. 1979 and acq. 1982); Emery, acq. 1971; Hekekyan, acq. 1861; Horner, acq. 1864); el-Minya; Mit Rahina (Hekekyan, acq. 1861); Mostagedda (Brunton, acq. 1926, acq. 1928-31, acq. 1953, acq. 1956); Nabta Playa (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Nag el-Ghabat; Naqada (Wendorf, acq. 2001; Brunton, acq. 1929-32, acq. 1991; EEF, acq. 1899; EES, acq. 1998; Maspero, acq. 1885; Petrie, acq. 1895 and acq. 1898); Naga el-Deir; Naucratis (EEF, inc. acq. 1885-6, acq. 1888, acq. 1965, acq. 1974, acq. 1888; Hogarth, acq. 1900; Petrie, inc. acq. 1885-6, acq. 1888, acq. 1890, Reisner, acq. 1922); Nazlet el-Shurafa; Philae; el-Qantara (EEF, acq. 1887); Qantir; Qasr Ibrim (EES, acq. 1965, acq. 1969 and acq. 1984; Emery, acq. 1961-1962); Qasr el-Sagha; el-Qasr Wa-l-Saiyad; Qaw el-Kebir (BSAE [Brunton], acq. 1923-1925, acq. 1929, acq. 1991; BSAE, acq. 1982 and acq. 1998); Qena (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Qift (Koptos, Coptos) (Petrie, inc. 1893-1894, acq. 1906 and acq. 1979); Qus; Ramleh; el-Rashid (Bouchard, acq. 1802); Rifa (BSAE, acq. 1907, acq. 1979, acq. 1982; Loftus, acq. 1856); Sa el-Hagar (Sais); San el-Hagar (EEF, acq. 1884-5, acq. 1887; Mariette, acq. 1913; Petrie, acq. 1885 and acq. 1887; Reisner, acq. 1885); Salmiya; Samannud; Saqqara (EES [Emery], acq. 1969, acq. 1971, acq. 1973, acq. 1975; Petrie, acq. 1908, acq. 1937); Semaina; Serabit el-Khadim (Naville and Hall, acq. 1905; MacDonald, acq. 1849); Sheikh Hamadeh; Shibin el-Qanatir; el-Sheikh Ibada (Antino); Sedment (Petrie, acq. 1923); Sinai; Sohag; Tarkhan (BSAE, acq. 1912; Petrie, acq. 1956); Tell Atrib (BSAE, acq. 1982; EEF, acq. 1888; Petrie, acq. 1908); Tell Basta (EEF, acq. 1885 and acq. 1889); Defenneh (Petrie, acq. 1886-7; Reisner, acq. 1887); Tell el-Farain (EES, acq. 1984; Emery, acq. 1971); Tell Jaiff; Tell el-Maskhuta; Tell el-Muqdam (Reisner, acq. 1885); Nebesheh (EEF, acq. 1887; Petrie, acq. 1887); Tell el-Rataba; Tell el-Yahudiya (BSAE, acq. 1979, acq. 1982; EEF, acq. 1887-8; University of Colorado, 1962-6); Tell Zuwelein (EEF [Petrie], acq. 1887; Thebes (BSAE, acq. 1929; EES, acq. 1922; Lawson, acq. 1889; MMOA, New York, acq. 2000; Petrie, acq. 1896; also Asasif; Deir el Bahari [Carter, acq. 1904; EEF, 1895-98, 1903-07, also acq. 1923, acq. 1926-7, acq. 1979; MMOA, New York, acq. 1949]; Deir el-Medina; Dra Abu el-Naga; Karnak [Benson, Gourlay, 1897, acq. 1973]; Luxor [Emery, acq. 1971; Hogarth, acq. 1907; Reisner, acq. 1922]; Malkata; Medinet Habu; Qurna; Ramesseum [Quibell, acq. 1902 and acq. 1956]; Sheikh Abd el-Qurna; Valley of the Kings, tombs of Amenhotep III [inc. purchase from Salt, 1821; acq. 1907; Carter, acq. 1988], Sety I, Siptah, Ramses V, Ramses VI, Ramses VIII); Toshka (Wendorf, 2002); Tukh el-Qaramus; Tuna el-Gebel; Tura; Umm el-Qaab (Hall, Naville, Peet, acq. 1910); Wadi Faran (MacDonald, 1858); Wadi Maghara (MacDonald, acq. 1863); Wadi Qubbaniya (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Wadi Sarga (Byzantine Research Account, 1919; Byzantine Research and Publication Fund, 1914-5); Wadi Tafa; Zaqazig (EEF, acq. 1890); Zaraby (BSAE, acq. 1979); Objects are known to have come from the following locations in Sudan(with the name of the excavator/sponsor and year of excavation given where possible): Abu Geili; Amara (inc. EES, 1948-9); Argin; Begrawiya (Garstang, acq. 1939); Buhen (inc. EES [Emery], acq. 1958-9; EES, acq. 1964-5, acq. 1968); Butana (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Debeira (Scandinavian Joint Expedition to Nubia, acq. 1991); Dongola reach (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Dungul oasis (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Erbenarti (Adams, acq. 2005); Faras (EEF, acq. 1912; Oxford University, acq. 1912); Fourth Cataract region; Gabati; Gebeit Mine; Gebel Barkal; Gebel Moya (excavator unknown, 1911, acq. 1998; Wellcome, acq. 1946); Gebel Sahaba (Wendorf, acq. 2002); Kawa (Reisner, acq. 1922; Griffith, inc. acq. 1931-3); Kerma (Griffith, acq. 1932; Reisner, acq. 1922, acq. 1955); Khartoum (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Kulubnarti; el-Kurru (Reisner, acq. 1922); Mahal; Sedeinga; Teglinos; Napata; Nuri (Reisner, acq. 1922); Sanam (Oxford University [Griffith], acq. 1926); Saqadi; Semna (The excavations were conducted by the University of Colorado Museum Expedition to Sudanese Nubia, 1962-1966); Serra; Sesebi (EES, 1936-7); Soba East; Wadi Halfa (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Wadi Lakia (Wendorf, acq. 2001). Elsewhere Adan; Amran; Amrit; Arabia; Ashkelon; Axum; Baghdad; Beirut; Beit Nabala; Bengemmi; Benghazi; Beth-Zur; Bethlehem; Byblos; Caesarea; Carchemish; Carthage; Cyprus; Cyrene; Dundrum; Edirne; Ethiopia (Wendorf, acq. 2001); Gaza; Gerar river; Hagar Qim; Haram esh-Shereef; Iraq; Istanbul; Jaffa; Jenin; Jericho; Jerusalem; Kamiros; Khalet es-Shakif; Kirmanshah; Krendi; Lebanon; Leucas; Levant (EES, acq. 1992; EES [Pendlebury], acq. 1992; Garstang, acq. 1905; Hogarth, acq. 1907; Mariette, acq. 1904); Libya; Malta; Marathus; Meroe (Garstang, acq. 1910); Nablus; Nimrud; Nineveh; Ophel; Palestine; Palmyra; Phoenicia; Rhodes; Rome (EEF, acq. 1885; Emery, acq. 1971); Samaria; Sidon; Smyrna; Tarsus; TartÔs; Tell AbuÂ’l-Falus; Tripoli; Twickenham; Tyre; Warka; Zefat The Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at The British Museum houses an important collection of objects which illustrate every aspect of the cultures of the Nile Valley, from the Neolithic period (c. 10 000 BC) until Coptic (Christian) times (12th century AD).

Paul Hamlyn Library

The Paul Hamlyn Library, the public reference library in the restored Reading Room, is open to everyone who visits the Museum. Funded by The Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the library aims to help visitors find out more about the Museum’s collections and the cultures represented here. The subject-matter is very wide-ranging, including archaeology, history, art, architecture and much more, and there is a substantial and developing children’s section. The online catalogue can be consulted at terminals in the Reading Room, Books may not be borrowed from the Library but are always available for reference during opening hours.

Subjects

Visual arts; Art; Classical studies; Anthropology; History; Architecture; Archaeology

Anthropology Library Collection

The Anthropology Library is now part of the new Centre for Anthropology. The library is one of the world’s major specialist anthropological collections with its origins in the nineteenth century; its holdings were greatly enhanced by the gift of the Royal Anthropological Institute Library to the Ethnography Department Library in 1976. Today the library contains around 120,000 books and pamphlets and 4,000 journal titles (of which about 1,500 are current), in addition to microfiches, microfilms, maps, newsletters, sound recordings and congress reports. There is also an important collection of photographs and other pictorial material. The literature held covers every aspect of anthropology: cultural and social anthropology with a strong emphasis on material culture and art, archaeology, some biological and medical anthropology and linguistics, together with such related fields as history, sociology and description and travel.

Subjects

Anthropology; Archaeology; Ethnology

Museum Archives

The Archives of the British Museum consist of the administrative records of the Museum’s Trustees and Directors which have been selected for permanent preservation for their evidential, administrative or research value. These are public records, date from the Museum’s foundation in 1753 to the present day and illuminate every aspect of the Museum’s official activities including the meetings of its Trustees, its acquisitions, administration, finance, buildings, staff, exhibitions, publications and excavations. Archival material acquired through donation or purchase, and relevant to the history of the Museum and its activities, is also held here. This wide-ranging archive is also a rich visual resource and includes sketches, architectural plans and drawings, scrapbooks, press cuttings and photographs. Documentation relating to the history of the British Museum is also held by the British Library. This includes the records of the former British Museum Library departments (prior to the establishment of the British Library in 1973) and collections within the Department of Manuscripts. However, pre-1973 Reading Room records are held by the British Museum. The records of the Office of Works and its successors relating to the development of the British Museum building are held at the Public Record Office at Kew. The Museum Archives section also has responsibility for museum-wide records management under the Head of Archives and Departmental Record Officer. The Museum’s curatorial and administrative departments retain their own records. These are also public records but, as yet, do not have archival status.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Begun in 1901 to illustrate past and present material culture of ophthalmic opticians (optometrists). Over eleven thousand outstanding items of ophthalmic and optical interest. Includes over 2000 pairs of spectacles, from 17th c. through to 21st c. as well as historic examples of other optical devices and aids to vision including scissor spectacles, folding eyeglasses, pince-nez, lorgnettes, magnifiers, quizzing glasses and monocles. The Museum also includes a collection of over 500 antique prints as well as oil paintings, sculptures and decorative art items on optical themes. It preserves a wide range of ophthalmic optometric instruments, visual test charts, orthoptic and hygienic devices. It is considered to be the national specialist collection for contact lenses and contact lens accessories. It also has specialist collections relating to photography, pharmacy and ocular prosthetics. Collections include: Boots Opticians Ltd Collection American Optical Collection Frank Dickinson Collection – Contact lenses and accessories associated with this pioneer contact lens practitioner. Keith Clifford Hall Collection – Contact lenses and accessories. Dollond and Aitchison Loan Collection Telescopes, binoculars, opera glasses Contact Lens Collection – Considered by many to be the national collection of contact lenses and contact lens accessories including hard and soft lenses, fitting sets, cleaning and soaking solutions, insertion devices, storage cases, promotional items and advertising ephemera.

Ancient Egyptian Collection

The museum holds 4 ancient Egyptian objects. Object classes represented in the collection include: amulets; coffins (eye inlays only).

Subjects

Ancient civilizations; Antiquities; Antiquity; Egyptology

Portraits Collection

This heading is included due to the museum’s involvement in the SSN Understanding British Portraiture mapping exercise. It does not denote a distinct collection. Portraits are to be found across the museum’s collections of paintings, prints, photographs and reproduction images. Many of the sitters are wearing or holding spectacles or other vision aids, but there are also portraits of figures important in the field of optics or ophthalmic medicine. The collection includes what has been described as the best preserved version of the Joshua Reynold’s Self-Portrait (actually a copy, probably by a pupil). Portraits featuring spectacles and eyewear; British Optical Association Museum.

Subjects

Optics; Medical profession; Medical physics; Eye; Famous people; History of medicine; Scientific equipment

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Historical Collection

Records generated by and objects acquired by the British Red Cross Society from its formation as the British National Society for Sick and Wounded in War in 1870 to the present day. A small group of items relating to the Crimea 1854-6, and the foundation of the International Red Cross 1859-64 are also held. Many objects have been donated by people with some personal or family connection with the British Red Cross or those who have received assistance. The collection contains uniforms, medals and badges, first aid and nursing equipment, items from those who have been helped by the British Red Cross such as prisoners of war, items connected with the provision of international aid to victims of war or natural disasters and fund-raising material.

Paintings

The British Red Cross Museum and Archives hold paintings by a number of artists, such as R.T. Landells, Ernest Procter, Septimus Edwin Scott, Henry Mee and Rosa Branson. In addition there are a number of portraits: portrait of Major-General George Lindsay (Commissioner of the British Red Cross Commission for North-West Europe from November 1944) by Doris Zinkeisen, 1945; portrait of Miss Hedvica M. Shlehover in uniform, by Hans Knoechl, 1910; portrait of Miss Moore in uniform, by her sister Miss Dorothy W Moore, 1920. British Red Cross Museum and Archives.

British Red Cross Library

Includes a modern collection of approximately 3,500 books, mainly concerned with the work of the Red Cross, Armed Conflicts, Disasters, International Aid, Geneva Conventions, Human Rights, Community Care, First Aid, Voluntary Organizations and Fundraising. There is also an historical reference library.

Subjects

War victims; Wars (events); Disasters (events); Human rights violations; Disasters (by type); Foreign aid; First aid; War (concept)

Archives

The British Red Cross Society manages its museum and archives together. The latter includes records relating to the Society’s national HQ, regions, branches and centres as well as personal papers of those who have served with it or who have been helped by it.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Maritime Collection

The maritime collection is good, reflecting the importance of Brixham as a fishing port. Fishing, shipbuilding, including sailmaking and rigging, and supplementary trades were Brixham’s principal industries. The history of trawling in the 19th and 20th centuries is represented by tools, models, detailed drawings and explanatory notes; and navigational instruments. There is also material relating to the RNLI and the local lifeboat, smuggling, the great gale of 1866; and the landing of William of Orange at Brixham in 1688. There is the William Tooley-Hawkins collection of shipwrights’ tools. The museum manages the HM Coastguard collection. Other material relates to maritime tragedies and local regattas.

Subjects

Maritime

Medicine Collection

There is material from a local chemist’s shop.

Subjects

Medicine

Decorative and Applied Art Collection

This collection includes local and commemorative ceramics.

Subjects

Decorative and Applied Arts

Fine Art Collection

This is a small collection, including drawings with a maritime theme, and paintings.

Subjects

Fine Art

Photographic Collection

There is an extensive collection of local photographs of events, places and people.

Science and Industry Collection

Local trades, largely associated with maritime activity, are well represented in the collection.

Subjects

Science and Industry

Archaeology Collection

Evidence of mesolithic, neolithic, bronze age and iron age occupation is represented in the collection by stone tools, pottery and human bone. There are photographs of the discovery by William Pengelly in 1858 of Brixham Cavern with its evidence of early man and there are finds from the submerged seashore forest. Excavations of the Napoleonic fort at Berry Head produced a wide range of military and domestic finds.

Subjects

Archaeology

Costume and Textile Collection

The costume collection reflects local material from about 1860 to 1930. There is also material relating to lace-making, including bobbins; dress-making; embroidery; fisherman’s knitting; and hand-shoemaking.

Subjects

Costume and Textile

Social History Collection

The collection comprises material relating to domestic life during the 19th and 20th centuries; civic regalia; the fire and police services; local churches; the theatre; and trade and shops including a shoemaker’s workshop.

Subjects

Social History

Archives Collection

Extensive local archives comprise documents; newspapers; maps; deeds; contracts; records of service (mostly maritime); ships’ plans; greetings cards; and ephemera such as posters. The main newspaper collection comprises bound annual volumes of the Brixham Western Guardian from 1902 to 1968.

Subjects

Archives

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Bromley Museum was founded in 1965 at The Priory, Orpington. Initially the museum collection was mainly archaeological objects from the Orpington area. Alongside this material was the Avebury collection, which includes ethnographic and archaeological items from around the world, developed by Sir John Lubbock, the First Lord Avebury, who lived at High Elms, Farnborough. These acted as a source of information and inspiration for visitors. Over the years the museum subsequently acquired more archaeology from excavations, social history, geology and natural history. The London Borough of Bromley’s fine art collection was transferred from the Council into the care of the museum in the mid-1990s. These separate collections all consolidated to form one core collection of objects for the service.

In October 2015 the Bromley Museum at The Priory in Orpington was closed. The management of the museum collection was transferred to Bromley Local Studies and Archives that is situated at Bromley Central Library. From April 2016 the Borough’s local studies, archives and museum services began operating as an integrated service known as Bromley Historic Collections (BHC).

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2022

Licence: CC BY-NC

Archaeology

BHC has a collection of archaeological material derived from excavations and fieldwork, as well as stray finds, from the area now covered by the London Borough of Bromley. It covers all periods from early prehistoric to medieval times i.e. up to AD 1500. Within this general heading are a number of small collections assembled in the past by local people, which have been donated, for instance: the Fordyce and Eldridge Collections.

The archaeological collection included significant archaeological archives from excavations at the following sites:

• Crofton Roman Villa, Orpington
• Durley House, St Mary Cray
• Kent Road, St. Mary Cray
• Poverest Road, Orpington
• Priory Rose Garden, Orpington
• Ramsden Iron Age Farmstead
• St Botolph’s Church, Ruxley
• Walsingham School, St. Paul’s Cray
• Warbank Roman Cemetery, Keston

A transfer of the records and finds from these nine sites to the London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre (LAARC), managed by the Museum of London, was undertaken in 2016, so that this material could continue to be studied and be used even more than presently to inform and educate.

Decorative arts

The decorative art collection is limited to a small number of specimens of contemporary craft pottery and embroidery produced by local artists.

Ethnography

In addition to the material that forms part of the Avebury Collection, the ethnographic collection mainly consists of contemporary objects from Africa, particularly from Uganda, donated by residents of the Borough.

Fine art

The collection of paintings, prints and drawings includes works by London Borough of Bromley artists, regardless of the subject of a painting, and works depicting Bromley subjects (including portraits) by non-borough artists. Most of this collection was transferred from the Bromley Local Studies Library in the 1990s. In addition, the collection includes prints that were assembled by the borough’s Education department during the 1970s.

Natural history

The existing collection of natural history material have derived from old collections and stray finds, mainly from the area now covered by the London Borough of Bromley, but including some from non-local areas of Britain and overseas. It includes lepidoptera, birds’ eggs and geological specimens.

Numismatics

The numismatic collection includes coins and tokens derived from archaeological excavations and fieldwork, including hoard finds, from the London Borough of Bromley. It also includes medals and medallions that are particularly relevant to the borough.

Social history

The collection of social history material from the London Borough of Bromley has been acquired principally by donation. It consists of a wide range of items including household goods, commemorative items, objects relating to World War II and a small costume and textile collection. Within this collection is a group of items relating to the former Crystal Palace that were transferred to the borough in 1987 via the London Residuary Body (after the demise of the Greater London Council).

The Avebury Collection

The Avebury Collection formed the nucleus of the collection when Bromley Museum opened in 1965. It was developed by naturalist, archaeologist and ethnographer Sir John Lubbock, the 1st Lord Avebury (1834–1913) who lived at High Elms, Farnborough. It includes archaeology from British and European sites, as well as ethnography from around the world. It also includes the important reconstructions of prehistoric life by Ernest Griset.

Ownership of the Avebury Collection was split between the Orpington Historical Society (OHS) and the British Museum. The OHS deposited/loaned their material with Bromley Museum in 1965. In 2003, the OHS decided to give the collection to Bromley Museum; however, a complication arose because no proof could be found that OHS had full title to the collection. To conclude the matter it was decided to contact the Lubbock family, who were unable to confirm the status of the collection, but allowed for the transfer of the collection to Bromley Museum based on the following conditions:

• That the collection is not split up (either by site or owner), except for short period loans;
• That the collection is not sold off to anyone;
• That the collection remains within the Orpington (or Bromley) area and remains available for inspection as a resource for historians and other interested members of the public;
• That these undertakings are passed on to and become the responsibility of any successor organisation of the London Borough of Bromley;
• If, for any reason, these conditions become unacceptable, the Lubbock family (Lyulph, his heirs and assigns) have first call on reclaiming the collection.

The London Borough of Bromley accepted these conditions as they in no way conflict with the standard conditions governing the acquisition of objects. If for any reason the collection was moved elsewhere or there was a request for an item to be repatriated then the borough would consult with the family.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2022

Licence: CC BY-NC