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Personalia Collection

Local significance. D H Lawrence and family personalia, including: by DH Lawrence 4 watercolours, an inkwell, two letters and a school textbook belonging to Lawrence, travelling trunk; belonging to his mother, chiffonier and bedside table. Original photographs of Lawrence as a baby, Mrs Lawrence and Bert Beardsall.

Subjects

Writing; Childhood; Furniture; Photographs; Personal history; Authors; Personal property

Costume and Textiles Collection

Local significance. Includes examples of costumes and domestic textiles contemporary with the period interpretation of the house.

Subjects

Textiles; Authors; Costume

Social History Collection

Local significance. Domestic furniture and fittings; laundry and other household equipment used in furnishing the Birthplace.

Subjects

Domestic life; Furniture; Authors; Social History

Fine Art Collection

Local significance. Small collection of framed pictures, including chromolithographs, engravings and a watercolour. No further collecting.

Subjects

Watercolour painting; Fine Arts; Engravings; Authors

Science and Industry Collection

Local significance Examples of personal objects connected with the mining industry, including helmets, gaiters, lamp, boots, miners’ sweat band and snap tin.

Subjects

Equipment; Trade (practice); Miners; Mining; Industry

Archives Collection

Local significance. Some documentary material and printed ephemera, but not policy to acquire books, documents and papers.

Subjects

Authors; Archives; Literary history; Photographs

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Archaeology

The museum store holds a considerable amount of archaeological material, including excavated material from the Roman villas of Gadebridge, Boxmoor, King’s Langley and Northchurch, the Belgic cemetery at Aldbury and the Royal Place and Friary at King’s Langley.

Numismatics

The Trust holds a large collection of coins, mainly archaeological, as well as a small collection of tokens and bank notes.

Fine and Decorative Art

The collection includes oil paintings, watercolours, drawings and prints, mainly topographical or by local artists. A recent acquisition has been a collection of eight watercolours, painted in the early 1920s. The artist is unknown, but all of the paintings have the initials A.W, and can possibly be attributed to Arthur Watmore of Hemel Hempstead. There is a very small collection of decorative arts.

Social History

The social and local history collections reflect the domestic, community and working lives of the people of Dacorum over the last 300 years, although there are significant gaps in the collections. There is a growing collection of material relating to the paper making industry around Hemel Hempstead (Dickinson’s), to Coopers of Berkhamstead, to Novartis (Ovaltine) and to the local straw plait industry. There is a small collection of items associated with the firm of Davis and Bailey Ltd, manufacturers of agricultural tools and machinery, Hemel Hempstead.

The Edward Sammes Collection

The museum holds a collection of photographs, posters, enamel signs and packaging relating to the firm of Cooper’s of Berkamsted, begun by William Cooper in the 1840’s and which closed in 1997 after passing through various owners since the late 1940’s. Cooper’s were renowned for the manufcature of agricultural and household chemicals, such as sheep dips and fly sprays.;Collection of photographs relating to the development of Hemel Hempstead New Town.

Archives

The Trust has a strong collection of photographs from all of the contributing societies but particularly of the Berkhamsted, Hemel Hempstead and Kings Langley areas from the late 19th and early 20 centuries. It includes images of local scenes, personalities, events and activities. There is also a small collection of film. A set of undertaker’s record books (Horn & Co. of Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead) dating from circa 1900-50 which provide fascinating details about the funeral arrangements as well as details about the deceased – name, age, address, occupation, next-of-kin etc. There are about 12 books in total.

Costume

The bulk of the costume collection belongs to Kings Langley Local History and Museum Society, and consists of about 400 items, mainly of late 19th century and early 20th century date.

Geology

The Trust holds a very few geological specimens.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collection is composed predominantly of social history and industrial material from the Yorkshire Dales. It was established in the 1940s by the founder of the Museum, Marie Hartley, working initially with Ella Pontefract and later with Joan Ingilby. There was an initial emphasis on the Upper Dales such as Wensleydale and Swaledale.

The majority of artefacts collected up to the late 1990s relate to the period 1800-1950. The strengths of that collection include agriculture, dairying, tinsmithing, rural crafts and knitting. Many of these objects were documented in books by Hartley and Ingilby such as Handknitters of the Dales and Life and Tradition in the Yorkshire Dales. The objects have good provenance and are of a high quality.

Items previously displayed at Bolton Castle were taken into the collection by Hartley and Ingilby prior to its transfer to North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) and the opening of the Upper Dales Folk Museum in 1979. Material has been added to the collection since that time. The NYCC collection was transferred to the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) in 1997.

Since then, objects relating to medicine and material relating to the life of Marie Hartley and Joan Ingilby have been added. In 2015 the Yorkshire Dales Mining Museum at Earby closed. Artefacts relating specifically to the Yorkshire Dales were acquired by the YDNPA following a decision by the Full Authority.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2020

Licence: CC BY-NC

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority holds a resource for promoting understanding and enjoyment of the cultural heritage, wildlife and landscape of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The collection housed at the Dales Countryside Museum, falls into the following broad subject areas:

• Social History
• Archaeology and Numismatics
• Arts – Ceramics, Costume, Textiles, Folk Art, and Contemporary craft.
• Archives – Dialect poetry, Oral history

In addition to the social and industrial material described above, the museum also has a small collection of archaeological material, in particular material relating to the prehistoric period.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2020

Licence: CC BY-NC

Daventry museum was formerly administered by Daventry District Council and occupied the Moot Hall in Daventry. The Moot Hall was closed about 2003 due to cuts in district council services, the collection was stored and looked after by volunteers. In 2005 the museum opened regularly to the public on a monthly basis. In 2009 the collection was transferred to the new Daventry Town Council and moved to the Councils new premises at 3 New Street Daventry where it is currently situated.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2022

Licence: CC BY-NC

The majority of the items held within the collection relate to the area within Daventry town’s parish boundary, the history of its peoples, their trades, professions, leisure, religions and everyday lives, it also includes a historic record of the buildings and infrastructure of the town past and present.

The collection currently includes items from the 16th century to the present day, with the majority dating from the late 19th through to the end of the 20th century; it consists mainly of photographs, documents, ephemera, objects and oral history.

The museum is custodian to the following collections described in brief.

Charters or Letters of Patent dated between 1576 and 1675 also the ivory Common Seal of town c1595, Maces dated between 1668 and 1722 and a Sergeant at Mace badge.

Weights & Measures of the town c1824 and Scales dated 1796, a Winchester Bushel dated 1664.

Coffer Fort dated 1600, Lock and Key, Leg Irons and other memorabilia from Moot Hall.

Model of Daventry Railway Station and various plans, papers and other related memorabilia, Theatre posters, Public notices on events and entertainments, Jubilee celebrations, and various other printed ephemera.

Record books from various organisations, memorabilia and ephemera of all aspects of Daventry its people and their lives.

Boot and Shoe tools, books etc, also carpentry tools together with items and history on various other trades within the town.

Army uniforms and other related items, School uniforms and related memorabilia.

A Pike fish in glass case, model Ship and various wall plaques.

A collection of artefacts and photographs from the BBC Transmitting Station on Borough Hill, these have attracted interest in more than the local area including representatives from the Science Museum in London.

Archaeological specimens from Borough Hill and the surrounding area.

The museum also holds an extensive Photographical Library of Daventry its buildings, people and past sporting, celebratory and other historical events.

At present all items on display and in store are considered useful and relevant to the collection.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2022

Licence: CC BY-NC

Southern African Objects

David Livingstone’s writings and illustrations provide a detailed account into the cultural identities of the communities, people and environments he made contact with during his expeditions throughout Southern Africa. The diaries and writings of those who knew, worked with or came into contact with David Livingstone provide further insights into the collection; a key example being the inventory created by Jacob Wainwright soon after David Livingstone died, written into Livingstone’s last field diary.

Blantyre Cotton Works

The collecting of material related to Blantyre Cotton Works was led by a desire to preserve the buildings and the heritage of the site as central to the understanding of David Livingstone’s early life, including his family, home and work. This process began in 1927 with the acquisition of 19th century Blantyre Works Library and progressed with the steady acquisition of objects provenanced to the Blantyre Cotton Works including items such as bobbins used in mill, a handkerchief spun, woven and dyed at the Blantyre Works, the Works Bell, the Blantyre Works boardroom table, and a range archival material. In addition, there are some objects representative or associated with Blantyre Cotton Works including a model of Blantyre Works by Charles d’Orville Pilkington Jackson and a spinning jenny.

Pilkington-Jackson

Charles D’Orville Pilkington Jackson was commissioned to sculpt the several bronze tableaux depicting the life of Livingstone and a World Fountain in the Memorial grounds prior to the opening in 1929. After opening in 1929, an additional sculpture by Pilkington-Jackson was carved from oak and named “The last Journey” prior to being placed on display from 1930.

Haswell-Miller

In a similar vein to the Pilkington-Jackson tableaux, the early founders of DLT had a desire to develop artistic representations of David Livingstone’s life through the creation of imaginative story-focused displays. The initial appointment of Archibald Elliot Haswell Miller resulted in the creation of works designed to fit with the thematic scheme of each gallery. This included a series of 8 wall panels executed in tempera telling the story of David Livingstone’s early life installed prior to opening in 1929 before being supplemented by a further four murals and recorded as such in 1932. Each of the murals were financed through concerted efforts by DLT, successfully seeking support from a range of Christian, youth and educational establishments across Scotland. Since 1932, this collection has steadily grown to include a total of 19 works by Haswell Miller consisting of paintings executed on canvas and board representative of themes and stories related to David Livingstone.

Blantyre Works Library

The Blantyre Works Library is a significant collection of 18th century – early 20th century books which was made available to the workers of the Blantyre Works Mill. These books would have been available to David Livingstone and his family when they lived in Shuttle Row in the 1800s.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article “David Livingstone Birthplace Museum”, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Source: Wikipedia

Date: 2025

Licence: CC-BY-SA

Fine Art Collection

The collection is strong in the field of local prints and paintings illustrating aspects of community life in Dawlish.

Social History Collection

The collection is strong in Victoriana and much of this collection is presented in the form of room settings.

Photographic Collection

The museum holds a good range of images illustrating many aspects of community life in Dawlish.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC