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The collection evolved from objects maintained by The Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces from their formation in June 1940. Many objects were utilised to inform the rest of the Army about the role and function of this new force.

Within 12 months of the end of the Second World War, on 29th October 1946, a meeting of the Committee of the Parachute Regiment Association chaired by Brigadier Hill DSO MC, established the Museum of the Airborne Forces. Brigadier CHV Pritchard DSO supervised the collection of exhibits and produced a display.

It was initially placed in a disused officer’s mess at Corruna Barracks Aldershot, where it remained until 1949 when the mess was again required for accommodation. War Office permission was obtained the following year to convert a barrack block in Maida Barracks into the new Airborne Forces Museum. This was not properly housed until 1952, although King George VI visited it on 19th July 1950 during the Presentation of the Colours ceremonies.

The Museum remained at Maida Barracks until the Depot and Regimental Headquarters of the Parachute Regiment moved to the Browning Barracks site in 1968. This custom designed home was regarded as permanent and sponsored by a number of civilian firms and other regiments associated with Airborne Forces.

The original briefing models for the airborne operations of the Second World War – Bruneval, Normandy, Arnhem and the Rhine Crossing – could be displayed for the first time. Dioramas were set up to show the capture of the Pegasus Bridge and fighting around the Arnhem Bridge. Vehicles and weapons and equipment of the airborne soldier from 1940 to the present were displayed, including British, American and German.

Aircraft displays of the nose sections of the Hotspur training and Horsa assault gliders were erected, with an original Dakota aircraft, eventually painted in the D-Day colours, set up outside the Museum entrance. It became an iconic and much photographed back-drop to Regimental group photographs and a well-known Aldershot landmark. Field Marshal the Viscount Montgomery of Alamein – then the Colonel Commandant of the Regiment – officially opened the Museum on 23rd March 1969.

The medal room, designed to exhibit the valour, honour and pageantry of the Regiment and Airborne Forces, housed one of the finest medal collections in the country. Captured Argentinean guns and equipment’s were brought back after the Falkland Islands conflict and displayed outside.

Exhibits were rotated and special displays built to commemorate events including the 40th, 50th and 60th anniversaries of the formation of Airborne Forces and key battle anniversaries.

When it was decided the Parachute Regiment, then part of 16 Air Assault Brigade was to move to Colchester, planning and preparation began to find a new home for the Museum. In December 2008 the Museum was re-located and re-opened as the Airborne Assault Museum at the Imperial War Museum site at Duxford in Cambridgeshire.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collection contains associated equipment, weapons, uniforms, memorabilia, photographs, books, documents, film and recordings, relating to the evolution, development, history and traditions of the British Airborne Forces and The Parachute Regiment since their formation in 1940. In addition, items relating to international airborne forces that have impacted British Airborne Forces are included in the collection. How the collection is utilised and stored can be broken into 4 main areas:

The AAM Collection housed in the Airspace Hangar at IWMD Main Site displays artefacts relating to the formation, development and subsequent operations of The Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces. At the centre of this collection is a unique selection of Airborne specific uniform and equipment, trophy items and a multimillion-pound selection of honours and awards, from the inception of Airborne Forces through to those awarded in the present in Afghanistan

The Archive, located on the IWMD North Site Contains archival material from the formation of The Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces in 1940 to the present day

The Reserve Collection, housed at Bassingbourn Barracks, contains objects in 4 bespoke humidity-controlled containers

ParaData, AAM’s online digital archive contains digitised records from the archive and entries for all those who have been killed in service and for veterans to add their own profiles and accounts. Access to ParaData is provided online through www.paradata.org.uk and also through touch screen kiosks in the AAM Collection at the Airspace Hangar at IWMD.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

The museum was established in 1973 as an independent charitable trust (The Aldeburgh Museum Collection Trust) with its purpose as stated above. It has been a nationally registered museum (No. 813) since 1988. The museum was awarded Full Accreditation status in 2007.

The charity was changed to a CIO in 2016.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2023

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collections consist of some 6,500 items relating mainly to local history, including a large collection of photographs, paintings, books, and maps. It includes many items of natural history and archaeology. Artefacts range from local prehistoric finds (mammoth remains; Neolithic flints), while most of the collection covers the period since the early settlements of the area, starting with Roman and then Anglo-Saxon settlements around the Alde and Ore estuary. The greater part of the collection relates to the development of the town of Aldeburgh, and its commercial, corporate, and social history.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2023

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collections of the present Museum, which was established in 1970 has resulted from the amalgamation of several collections, including:

• The geology includes the plutonic rocks and sandstones and also imported limestone for the Victoria harbour and fort building.
• Archaeological displays show Mesolithic and Neolithic tools, an early copper- bronze axe and other Bronze Age and Iron Age tools, examples of Iron Age pottery and rotary querns, and there is a large collection of pots shards, flints and other stone finds from Bronze Age to recent.
• Displays and stored items include tools from past trades and occupations, domestic equipment and early tourist items from the twentieth century and some of the 18th century Governor’s porcelain.
• Garrison and Militia items from the late 18th century to WW1 include several sets of campaign and other medals.
• Displays and stored items from the period of Nazi occupation of Alderney and the return of Alderney Islanders post WW2.
• Coins from the Roman, eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries and commemorative coins.
• Artefacts from an Elizabethan period wreck.
• Drawings, paintings, prints, maps and plans showing the activities of garrisons, the harbour and fortifications.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2021

Licence: CC BY-NC

All collections are closely related to the island of Alderney, its geology, archaeology, pre-history, history (social and political) and Natural History and the sea and the seabed around it, and all periods.

The collections may include a small proportion of items that have little connection with the island other than having been collected by islanders. It is recognised, however, that these objects have important historical value in their own right and it is the Museum’s policy to retain them.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2021

Licence: CC BY-NC

Fine Art Collection

Local significance The collection includes domestic pictures.

Subjects

Domestic life; Fine arts

Military Collection

Collection includes photographs of the armed services. Local significance.

Subjects

Military history; Photographs; Military life; Armed forces

Music Collection

Collection includes a Broadwood piano and sheet music.

Subjects

Music manuscripts; Music; Musical instruments

Archives

Library of c. 5000 volumes on horology and related subjects in 19 languages. Which is widely acknowledged to be one of the most foremost such collections in the world. Includes other documentary details.

Subjects

Horology

Decorative and Applied Arts Collection

Local significance Furniture, including Meissen-type cabinet; ornaments.

Subjects

Furniture; Decorative arts; Ornaments

Personalia Collection

Local significance Material associated with histories of Anne Hutchinson, Thomas Paine and John Smith.

Subjects

Personal papers; Personal narratives; Personal history; People

Science and Industry Collection

Local significance Cobbler’s tools, lasts and part-made shoes; locally-made bricks; blacksmith’s anvil and bellows; wheelwright’s tools; cooper’s tools; local brewer’s flagons and bottles; sweet-cutters and jars from Hildred’s sweet factory. Replica of Alford windmill.

Subjects

Manufacturing industry; Trade (practice); Blacksmiths; Windmills; Bricks; Shoes; Science; Wheelwrights; Tools; Industry

Transport Collection

Local significance Information on local railway; photos and other material associated with Alford-Sutton Railway; plans of proposed canal. Photos of other transport types. Horse drawn hearse. Child’s bicycle.

Subjects

Canals; Bicycles; Railways; Transport; Photographs; Canal construction; Horse-drawn vehicles; Children (age group)

Archaeology Collection

Local significance Small collection of Roman and medieval pot sherds, kiln props and debris from Roman salt production.

Subjects

Roman period; Medieval period; Archaeology; Archaeological objects

Archives Collection

Local significance Maps and plans; information on local economy, reclamation and conservation, newspapers, certificates, sheet music, novels, encyclopaedias.

Subjects

Certificates; Newspapers; Music manuscripts; Plans; Economic systems; Encyclopaedias; Local history; Novels; Archives; Maps

Costume and Textiles

Clothing from 1850-1950; domestic textiles.

Subjects

Costume and Textile

Medicine Collection

Contents of local chemists shop Local significance.

Subjects

Chemistry; Chemists; Medical sciences; Drugs; Shops

Photography Collection

Local significance Photographs of buildings and town; agriculture; livestock; market; local groups and societies; armed services; local railways; canals and other transport. Photograph albums. Nainby photograph collection.

Subjects

Agriculture; Canals; Railways; Transport; Photographs; Societies; Buildings; Livestock

Social History Collection

Local significance Domestic cooking and laundry items; sewing machines; smoking, writing, shaving and other toiletry items; toys; educational material, items associated with local shops, services, societies etc.; local hunt material.

Subjects

Smoking; Education; Domestic life; Writing; Childhood; Societies; Sewing machines; Toys; Social history; Shops

Agriculture Collection

Tools, machinery and photographs relating to local agricultural practice. Tools and certificates associated with livestock. Dyke-cutting and pipelaying tools. Animal traps. Local significance.

Subjects

Agriculture; Certificates; Animals; Photographs; Tools; Livestock

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Archaeology Collection

There are local prehistoric finds, including some bronze age bronze implements.

Subjects

Archaeology

Costume and Textile Collection

The lace industry is described under the science and industry heading.

Subjects

Costume and Textile

Social History Collection

The museum holds the borough seal; artefacts relating to local dairy; children’s toys, dolls and a dolls house; local schools, especially Allhallows; a grandfather clock with only one hand; and the Awliscombe stocks. The museum has a penny farthing bicycle. There is World War memorabilia and three models of wartime aircraft including a Spitfire. Joseph Kennedy, elder brother of John F Kennedy, trained at a local military airfield and was killed over England in 1944 while on a mission to Germany. There is also the case of a German 220kg bomb dropped on the area during the War.

Subjects

Social History

Geology Collection

The fossil collection discovered in the rocks near Honiton, includes fossil sea urchins, ammonites, and the teeth of fish and sharks. There are also 100,000-year-old hippopotamus bones found beneath the line of the Honiton bypass in the 1960s.

Subjects

Geology

Science and Industry Collection

Honiton lace is well known nationally and internationally and this industry is a major feature of the museum. With origins stretching back more than four centuries, the lace industry flourished using out-workers and at one time in the late 17th century employed half the population. Honiton produced very fine lace and its popularity ensured the success of the industry, which also spread to surrounding towns and villages. Honiton lace has provided Queen Victoria’s wedding veil and the Christening robe for Elizabeth II’s children. There is an extensive collection of Honiton lace in the museum including examples dating from 163o onwards. There are also lace making tools. Pottery has been made in Honiton at least since the 17th century. The town also prepared whetstones using stone mined in the Blackdown Hills. Clockmaking is represented by the Murch family business, the museum has some of their tools and an example of a long-case clock. The Honiton Ironworks is represented by some of its products, such as a mangle and a farm feeding trough.

Subjects

Science and Industry

Photographic Collection

This is a small collection of photographs of local interest.

Subjects

Photography

Other

Agriculture; Archives; Fine Art; Medals; Medicine; Numismatics

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Archaeology Collection

The collection consists mainly of material excavated by the Vale of Evesham Historical society. It includes Neolithic material, quantities of material from Romano-British and Saxon to late Medieval times, and material excavated from Evesham Abbey by the Rudge family in the 1830s. The collection includes the “Great Chair” of Evesham Abbey, a unique and massive throne of carved oak dating from the 14th.C. The museum has grave goods from early 6th.C. Saxon burials at Beckford (Glos.), and Broadway (Worcs.), and from a late 6th./early7th.C. grave at Fairfield (near Evesham). The collection includes Neolithic material, quantities of material from Romano-British to late Medieval times, and material excavated from Evesham Abbey by the Rudge family in the 1830s. The collection includes the “Great Chair” of Evesham Abbey, a unique and massive throne of carved oak dating from the 14th C.

Subjects

Archaeology (cemeteries); Archaeology; Viking; Archaeology (settlement); Roman Empire; Western European

Geology Collection

A collection of fossils and minerals collected in the area.

Subjects

Fossils; Geology; Minerals

Music Collection

The collection reflects aspects of the history of the Evesham area.

Subjects

Music; Western European

Personalia Collection

The collection reflects aspects of the history of the Evesham area.

Subjects

Personalia; People; Western European

Photographic Collection

The photographs are mainly of local topographical interest.

Subjects

Photographic equipment; Photography; Western European

Archives Collection

The collections include a 14th.C. illuminated psalter, and a copy of the rare “Matthew” bible printed in 1537.

Subjects

Documents (historic); Archives; Western European

Arms and Armour Collection

The collection reflects aspects of the history of the Evesham area.

Subjects

Costume (leisurewear); Costume (uniform/regalia); Textiles; Arms and Armour; Costume and Textile; Western European

Science and Industry Collection

Local industries such as those of the blacksmith, cobbler and wheelwright are well covered. There is a particularly good set of wheelwright’s tools from a business on Merstow Green Other industries covered include those of the blacksmith and cobbler.

Subjects

Industry and Commerce; Science and Industry; Metal working; Western European

Social History Collection

The collection consists of domestic, craft, commercial and civic items, printed ephemera and pictures, covering the period from the 16th. to the 20th C.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Science and Industry

Over 4000 industry-based items, such as the Print Workshop and Wheelwrights. The collection includes lime kilns and lime works buildings (many of which are Scheduled Ancient Monuments) and artefacts and documentary material relating to the industry. The major collections are chalk quarrying, limeburning, cement and concrete, industrial buildings, printing and graphic arts, radio, television and communications and the Milne electrical collection.

Transport

There is a good-sized transport-based collection. The major collections are narrow gauge railways, roadmaking and road vehicles and the Southdown Omnibus collection.

Archives

The Museum has a number of major collections for which the Museum also holds archival material, photographs, films and records of the industries. The Museum has a library with collections of books and documentary material relating to its collections. These include archive material on the chalk quarrying operations, the archive of the Southdown Bus Company, extensive documentary material relating to the radio and communications and journals. There is a separate library containing books and documentary material relating to the electrical collection.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

The American Museum & Gardens was founded by partners in both work and life, John Judkyn and Dallas Pratt. They were inspired to create a museum in the UK that replicated the experience provided by open-air and decorative arts museum in America, such as Colonial Williamsburg, the Shelburne Museum, Historic Deerfield, and Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library. In creating their own museum in the UK they wanted to showcase American decorative arts, challenge stereotypes and improve Anglo-American relationships.

Dallas and John had a substantial network of friends who worked as curators and directors of significant collections in the US, were antique dealers, and collectors of art and antiquities. Using these contacts, they sought advice on how to obtain the best collection of American decorative arts possible with their available funds. In 1958 they began collecting in earnest and using their own money they travelled America seeking out the best examples to furnish their museum. By 1961 they had acquired 2,410 items for the collection, most of which was purchased by them, but a small proportion was donated by friends and supporters. The majority of these items collected were used in the initial displays when the Museum opened in July 1961.

In 1966, prompted by the tragic untimely death of John Judkyn 3 years earlier, the John Judkyn Memorial was established in his memory as an affiliated organisation to the Museum. Its purpose was to develop the educational side of the Museum that John had valued and provided education and outreach programmes, as well as travelling exhibitions. It’s statement of purpose was: “to encourage an interest in America through the medium of original artefacts brought from the United States and circulated throughout Great Britain as exhibitions shown in museums and art galleries and as visual aids to education in schools”. Items from the American Museum’s collection were transferred to the JJM and new items were also acquired for the JJM collection. These items were much broader in scope than the original American Museum collection and included many 20h century items. In 2001, the collections at the American Museum and the John Judkyn Memorial were combined under the governance of the American Museum. The 2,777 items held by the John Judkyn Memorial are now considered part of the American Museum’s collection.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2023

Licence: CC BY-NC

There are approximately 12,275 items in the American Museum’s collection. Less than 1% of these are on long-term loan, and of those loan items, most are from American museums.

The American Museum is the only museum in Great Britain to display American domestic interiors from the 17th to 19th centuries. Period room settings incorporate architectural salvage (rescued from historic American houses that were being demolished), furniture and furnishings. The decorative art collections are mostly American in origin, but pieces from other countries are occasionally used when appropriate. The period room settings are supplemented by additional galleries depicting the diverse cultures, histories and decorative arts of America. The collections and displays demonstrate the developments in American decorative arts over the centuries.

The addition of the John Judkyn Memorial collection to the American Museum broadened the scope of the collection and included more items from the 19h and 20h centuries and items that provided a more extensive insight into American social and material culture.

Significant holdings include:

Quilt and textile collection

Ranging from the 18th to mid-20th centuries, the American Museum’s collection of over 250 quilts is acclaimed as the finest of its type in Europe and the equal of many premier collections in the United States. In addition to the quilts are woven coverlets, Navajo and southwest weavings, hooked rugs and samplers. The Hannah Taylor sampler (1959.180) has been described as the most striking and well-preserved Newport sampler of the 18 century and is one of two items that the founders stipulated never leave the Museum.

Folk art collection

The Museum holds an extensive collection of American folk art, which includes naive’ paintings and sculptures, weathervanes and whirligigs, shop signs, decoys etc. as well as textiles, such as quilts and rugs.

Shaker collection

The Shaker collection – of outstanding quality – was sourced for the Museum by Edward Deming Andrews and his wife Faith Andrews. They were instrumental in acquiring the finest examples of Shaker furniture for collectors during the mid-20th century. The Shaker candle stand (1959.75) is considered the finest of its kind by collectors of Shaker furniture and is one of two items that our founders stipulated should never leave the Museum on loan.

Dallas Pratt Collections

Renaissance Maps: Dallas Pratt began collecting historical maps as a teenager. In 1988, Dr. Pratt gifted his 200 maps to the Museum – one of the finest Renaissance map collections in Europe. These maps show the changes in cartography during the ‘Age of Discovery’ and document early European exploration and understanding of America. Although most of the maps are printed examples from the 16th century, the collection also includes significant manuscript drawings from as early as the 12d century.

Compassionate Eye: Another passion of Pratt’s was animal welfare and in 1994 his collection of over 100 animal prints – collectively known as the Compassionate Eye Collection – was donated to the Museum. This collection includes significant late 19th and early 20h century artists and depicts American landscapes and animals.

Indigenous North American material culture

A popular collection at the Museum and one that is central to one of the most asked for school programmes. Most pieces from the collection are 19th and 20th century. There are a few items that are older. The Museum is actively seeking to acquire contemporary pieces to add to this collection.

New Mexico Religious Art

The Museum holds a small but significant collection of santos, 2D and 3D Christian iconography produced by itinerant artists in the American southwest. Key artists working in the 18h and 19h centuries are represented by work in the collection.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2023

Licence: CC BY-NC