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Science and Industry Collection

The collections relating to the fishing industry contain 4 full-sized boats including the Harriet’ the last surviving North West fishing smack. There are also 60 models of boats, navigational aids and equipment, items from ships such as bells, plaques and lamps, inshore and deep sea fishing equipment, shipwrights tools, clothing and life-saving equipment.

Subjects

Science and Industry

Fine Art Collection

The main county collections contain around 30 paintings with ships, fishing and nautical scenes that are displayed at the museum.

Subjects

Fine Art

Biology Collection

Include the F W Frohawk and R A Hoyle collections (ex Harris Museum, Preston). See Museum of Lancashire for main biology descriptions.

Subjects

Biology

Arms and Armour Collection

There is a small loan collection of items from the Royal Naval Patrol Service (NW) Collection, mainly from 1939-1945 and including photographs and ephemera.

Subjects

Arms and armour

Archives Collection

A collection of over 1000 engineering charts, ledgers, books, documents, and drawings.

Subjects

Archives

Photographic Collection

There are over 4,500 maritime-related prints and negatives, including the recent acquisition of the Peter Horsley Collection of over 3,000 images illustrating the fishing industry in Fleetwood from the late 19th century to its decline in the 1970s.

Subjects

Photography

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collections owned by the Museum have been accumulated by the Faversham Society over the last 70 years, mostly through donations from the general public, but also through targeted acquisitions and occasional purchases.The collection has grown to over 50,000 objects and archival artefacts and represents the largest and most significant collection of material culture in the Borough of Swale.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collection relates to the history and archaeology of Faversham and surrounding area with particular reference to the local industries of agriculture – especially fruit and hop-picking, brewing, brick making, ship building and explosives manufacture.The collection also includes domestic social history material; a significant collection of photographs, slides and photographic equipment; telecommunications equipment; and a substantial archive of documentary evidence from varied sources.

Museum Material is also held on display at Chart Gunpowder Mills and the Society also has material on display relating to Maison Dieu Museum in Ospringe.

At present, the Museum’s collections can be divided into the following subject areas:

General social history

c. 5,000 items including items from domestic and personal life, various industries: railways, brewing, explosives, shipbuilding, agriculture (especially hops), as well as wartime/military items.

Costume

c. 1,000 items.Large amount of costume from 1900’s.Collection also includes a Polonaise Dress (18th century) and a court dress from the late 19th century.

Photographic collection

c. 5,000 photographs, also glass negatives, slides, cameras, magic lantern projectors etc; Crosoer Slides (important collection of hand-coloured lantern slides taken by the Crosoer brothers – extensive photography around Faversham from 1890-1910); also movie archive with some digitized films.Also projectors, inc rare 3-D projector. (A large bequest of photographic material from Arthur Percival is being processed which has over 40,000 images in different formats.)

Coins and medals

Large general collection, and locally important explosives medals (awarded following the explosion in 1916).

Sound

Oral history recordings, old records, audio equipment telecommunications including a collection of radios, a Strowger telephone exchange (relay driven, still working and connected to the museum’s internal phone and used by visitors), old switchboard.

Archaeology

Local archaeology, but including important material from Faversham Abbey; collection also includes archaeological human remains.

Fine art

Framed and unframed works

Decorative art

General items but includes an important collection of Osborne Ivorex Plaques (manufactured in Faversham).

Maps & Plans

Large collection of material relating to Faversham and its buildings.

Large objects

Georgian Shop Front. A Gilbert Scott red telephone box, Telephone exchange. Penny-farthing bicycle.

Archives

Archives contain c.30,000 items:

Main document archive containing wills, deeds and other locally important documents.

Subsidiary doc archive

Ephemera

Faversham Society Papers

Faversham Oyster Fishery Company ephemera

Prints and Drawings

Magazines (General)

Magazines (Unique / Historical)

Magazines (Local History)

Newspapers

Posters

Faversham Maritime Archive

Explosives Archive

Railways Archive

Brick-making Archive

Brewery Archive

Local Schools Archive

Church Magazines and Newsletters

Faversham Town Council Minutes

Swale Council / KCC Material

Sheet Music

Archive of local maps and plans etc.

Books

Large, varied library with several rare and unique books.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

In January 1990 the contents of the closed village shop at Flintham, Nottinghamshire (White’s Stores) were ‘discovered’. With the agreement of the owner, Miss Muriel White, three successful exhibitions about Flintham village life from 1910-1950 were held, using documents and artefacts found at the Stores. Before her death in 1992 Miss White gave the collection (known as the White Collection) to the newly formed Flintham Society which was granted educational charity status in 1995.

The Aims and Objectives of the Flintham Society as listed in the Charity Commission’s Basic Register are:

The education of the public by a) encouraging and fostering an interest in the history and development of Flintham b) the establishment of a museum displaying historical artefacts connected with Flintham and in particular the collection known as the White Collection. To promote any charitable purpose for the benefit of the inhabitants of Flintham.

In June 1996 the Flintham Society bought the Reading Room in Flintham, an eighteenth-century Grade II listed building. After completing repairs to the roof, the Society applied in 1997 for a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. This was granted and enabled the existing building to be refurbished, an extension to be added in keeping with the original, and the provision of a museum. The museum was opened by Lloyd Grossman 20 May 1999. The Society leases Diocesan land at the side of the Museum, and with the permission of the Diocese of Southwell, has reinstating a pond and landscaped the surrounding area.

In September 2005, a Community Shop was opened behind the Museum, on land owned by the Flintham Society. The Community Shop is run as a Community Benefit Society by a Steering Group which is separate to the Flintham Society; the two organisations work amicably and well together.

In May 2009, on the Museum’s tenth birthday, a Weather Garden was opened behind the Community Shop, on land which belongs to the Flintham Society. The Flintham Museum and adjacent garden is providing enjoyable and educationally challenging opportunities for all age groups.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2017

Licence: CC BY-NC

The Collection has two separate parts: a) The White Collection and b) the Flintham Society Collection. Both collections have different acquisition and disposal policies, as follows:

A. The White Collection consists of the following:

• documents and artefacts relating to all aspects of retailing at Whites Stores, Flintham,1911-1982. e.g. invoices, accounts, rationing documents, correspondence, shop stock
• documents and artefacts relating to the White family including their interests and hobbies c.1830-1992. e.g. glass plate negatives, correspondence
• documents and artefacts relating to various aspects of Flintham life in which the Whites were involved, including e.g., school documents 1874-1941, Home Guard and ARP activities in WWII

B. The Flintham Society Collection

As at August 2017, this is a growing collection, and consists of documents and artefacts relating to various aspects of twentieth century and current life at Flintham e.g. Women’s Institute minutes and scrap book, photographs and documents relating to past and present residents, Flintham Recreation Committee china, Flintham Youth Club, house sale particulars.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2017

Licence: CC BY-NC

Personalia Collection

Most of the collection originated as a collection of “Nightingalia” which was looked after by the Matron of St Thomas’ Hospital. The collection came to the Museum when it opened in 1989 and has since grown and developed. The collection consists of items owned or used by Florence Nightingale including material relating from her childhood, education, costume, accessories, domestic objects, working life, and travel souvenirs. Also portraits and photographs of Florence Nightingale and material connected with the Crimean War (1854-56). Military, hospital and nursing objects are represented and items connected with the Nightingale Training School and St. Thomas’ Hospital. There is a collection of 63 letters from Florence Nightingale and, on deposit at the London Metropolitan Archives, a further 700 letters from Florence Nightingale and other related papers. The collection also includes 60 oral history recordings from Nurses and Patients from Guys and St Thomas’ Hospitals and the Evelina Children’s Hospital.

Subjects

Military operations; Primary school curriculum; Health; Secondary school curriculum; Battles; Victorian period; Health education; Nursing; History of medicine; Social history; People; Roles; Military medicine

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

The origins of Folkestone Museum are synonymous with the misfortune of antiquarian and fossil enthusiast Mr. Samuel Joseph Mackie. His financial troubles in 1856 were personally disastrous, but they started a series of events which resulted in the formation of the first temporary museum in Folkestone. As part of the liquidation of his assets, his large collection of fossils was put up for auction on 18 February 1857. A group of local tradesmen bought them for £33, and subsequently passed their interest to J. G. Breach, the proprietor of the Pavilion Hotel. He gifted the collection to the Town Council, with a request that it should be accessible and form the foundation of a town museum. Eventually a room was hired in Tontine Street for one year to be used as a temporary museum.

Natural History formed the nucleus of the original museum collection and remains an important part of the collection today, with wonderful specimens of butterflies, shells and fossils of national significance. In the early days of the museum, a Natural History Society was formed in 1868 with Henry Ullyett as the society’s principal proponent. One of the main aims of the society was to establish a proper museum in more suitable premises.

In 1888 the library, reading room and museum was established at Grace Hill. The museum collections were transferred into the care of the Folkestone Borough Council in May 1888, and moved to the new building. It is this collection, the nucleus of which is Samuel Mackie’s collection of local fossils, which has since been added to. The collection has developed to reflect the historical development of the town through archaeology, social history and fine art. In 1924 Amy Master donated an important folio of works on paper, including Italian and Spanish Old Master drawings and original engravings by Albrecht Dürer.

Shepway District Council was created through the reorganization of local government in 1974. There was a brief hiatus in management of the museum until Kent County Museum service took over and reorganized the museum collection. Much of the collection went into long term storage in the Folkestone library and to various sites in Maidstone.

In 2007, Folkestone Heritage Working Group was established by Folkestone Town Council, to work towards the creation of a new Folkestone Museum. In June 2011 Folkestone Town Council purchased the Town Hall. The findings from a feasibility study were submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund and evidenced that the Town Hall provided the Town Council with a suitable space to achieve their aspirations for the new museum. In April 2013 Kent County Council officially agreed to gift the old Folkestone Museum collection to the Town Council. The collection was loaned by Kent County Council initially, and gifted (with transfer of title) to Folkestone Museum once the museum gained Accreditation status.

Folkestone Museum opened in Folkestone Town Hall in spring 2017. All acquisitions by the museum since this opening go to Folkestone Museum under the authority given to the museum by its governing body, Folkestone Town Council, with their approval of this policy.

In 2023, the trustees of Creative Folkestone gifted the Metropole Collection (a collection of 20th century contemporary art collected by the New Metropole Arts Centre) to Folkestone Museum.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collecting area of Folkestone Museum includes the town of Folkestone and the surrounding Folkestone and Hythe District Council area – excluding Hythe itself, as Hythe has its own museum.

Until the Second World War, Folkestone Museum was a regionally important centre for collecting geology and natural history specimens. Many of the original fossils, geological and natural history objects, including birds’ eggs butterflies and shells remain in the collection today.

Folkestone’s important archaeological past is represented by artefacts such as those from the Roman Villa on the East Cliff and an Anglo-Saxon skeleton, whilst various objects and documents record the maritime history and development of the town as a seaside resort.

The museum also holds two significant collections of art. The Master collection of 16th-19th century prints and drawings, and the Metropole Collection of 20th century contemporary art. The Museum also holds a range of pictorial items of local topographical and biographical interest.

Collection Descriptions

There are approximately 11000 records of accessioned items in the collection – c.40000 in total. In addition, there are c. 500 objects that still have temporary numbers and c.70 unaccessioned objects which have formally entered the collection.

Agriculture

We hold a small amount of agricultural material.

Archaeology

Folkestone’s archaeological past is represented by over 400 artefacts, notably objects from the town’s Roman Villa and Anglo-Saxon remains. The archaeology collection does not contain any objects from after 1066.

Arms & Armour

Military history relating to Folkestone and the surrounding area.

Biology

We have over 5000 natural history specimens including birds’ eggs, butterflies and shells.

Costume / textiles

There are 150 items of costume and textiles in the collection.

Fine Art

There are 879 pieces of art, including the Master collection and the New Metropole Collection.

Geology

Folkestone is a regionally important centre for geology and the museum holds c.600 specimens.

Maritime

Various documents and artefacts record the maritime history of the town.

Numismatics

The collection had over 1130 coins and medals. A number of these were stolen in the 1990s. At present, 90 objects are ‘missing’, ‘lost’ or do not have a location on our Collections Management software.

Social history

We hold over 1300 items recording the development of the town and the people who lived in it – the earliest objects in this collection are from the 1720s.

Transport

The collection includes a small number of transport items.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

The current collection is comprised of Historic Furniture which is on loan from The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery: There is a 25year Artefacts Loan Agreement between the City Council and Ford Green Hall Museum Ltd from time to time documenting the loan of the artefacts by the Council to FGH Museum Ltd.

The collection is comprised of original and replica pieces reflecting the 17th century onwards. Also few items acquired from other collections such as the Arnold Bennett Museum. All works are complementary to the history of Ford Green Hall. The furniture itself ranges in date from the late 15th Century to the 19th Century and has been arranged in room settings which represent different periods in the Fords family occupation of the house. The most expensive item at the time would have been the tester bed, the tester being the roof or canopy of a four poster bed. The long table and parlour cupboard date to around 1650.

Our knowledge of how Ford Green hall was furnished when the Fords lived in it, is greatly helped by the survival of inventories attached to the wills made by members of the family. Where possible, an attempt has been made to furnish some of the rooms according to these inventories.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

Social History

Domestic items include a very early washing machine.

Science and Industry

The collection includes items from local trades and industries such as cobblers’ and blacksmiths’ tools, items from closed shops, hand tools from the building trade and canning equipment from a local family business.

Arms and Armour

The collection includes First and Second World War ephemera.

Music

The collection contains a working pianola with music rolls.

Photographic

There are several hundred photographs and documents.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC