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Fine Art

An important collection of drawings by Thomas Gainsborough from all periods of his career. These include: ‘Landscape with a Farm’ 1747, pencil; ‘Peasants going to Market’ 1770-4, black & white chalk stump with grey and brown washes and gouache; ‘A Study for Diana and Acteon’ c.1785, black & white chalk with grey and grey black washes and gouache; ‘Study of a Rustic’ c.1785, black chalk and stump with white chalk; A drawing of his two daughters. Gainsborough’s House has an extensive collection of prints reproducing the artist’s paintings and drawings. In addition, it has a number of prints made by the artist. Highlights include ‘The Suffolk Plough’ c.1754, etching; ‘Peasant reading a Tombstone’ 1780, soft ground etching with aquatint; Gainsborough’s House has works by other artists that relate to Gainsborough including work by Hubert Gravelot, Francis Hayman and Gainsborough Dupont. It also has paintings and drawings which relate to the building and to Sudbury by artists such as J Heins and John Constable and an extensive collection of works by Henry William Bunbury (1750-1811). Oil paintings by Gainsborough include: Wooded landscape with cattle by a pool, 1782; Charles Crokatt, William Keeble and Peter Darnal Muilman in a landscape, about 1748 (jointly owned with the Tate Gallery); a small portrait of his wife; Descent from the cross after Rubens from the late 1760s.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

The museum contains various displays and exhibitions which focus on the culture and social history of Gairloch parish. Displays include:

• The Poolewe Hoard-a rare Early Iron Age bronze hoard found in Poolewe
• The original Hyperradiant Fresnel lens from nearby Rua Reidh Lighthouse
• A Replica croft house from over 100 years ago
• An ancient Pictish stone – the first and one of very few found on the West Coast of Scotland
• Interactive displays on the natural history of the area.

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

Source: Wikipedia

Date: 2025

Licence: CC-BY-SA

Social History Collection

The social history collections cover many aspects of local history, domestic and community life, commercial life, costume and accessories through a collection of 8,000 objects and 5,000 items of ephemera. Almost all objects have local associations, either being made or used in the Oldham area and cover many other subject headings such as photographs, oral history, arms and armour and numismatics.

Subjects

Social History

Archaeology Collection

The collection has grown in recent years to incorporate groups of excavation material such as items from the Castleshaw excavation conducted by the Greater Manchester Archaeological Unit. Material overall comprises local Mesolithic and Neolithic flint tools (around 50% with provenance) and a small amount of Egyptian and Greek material.

Subjects

Archaeology

Geology Collection

The geology collections comprise British fossils from the Lower Cambrian to Pleistocene, with a specific group of Carboniferous fossils arranged by biological groupings (of phyla and class). There is a general lack of field data but the collections are thought to probably originate from local geologist James Neild (1825-1895). There is also a representative collection of world minerals and a small collection of local rocks.

Subjects

Geology

Decorative and applied Art Collection

This is a varied collection comprising 150 pieces of glass, ceramics including 20th century studio pottery, commemorative pottery, Victorian domestic wares and figures. Oriental collections include Chinese and Japanese pottery, the Francis Buckley Collection of export wares (1936-37), ivory and soapstone figures, the Charles Lees collection of Oriental metalwork and the Newton Bequest of 1964. There is also a small collection of silverware, clocks and watches and some electrotypes including civic items.

Subjects

Decorative and Applied Arts

Science and Industry Collection

The town was built around the cotton and engineering industries and collections therefore include representative objects such as a section of a Mule (1927), a slubbing machine (1952) and drawing frame from the local textile industry (Platts). Locally made items include a Braddocks gas meter, Spencer lathe, Bradbury motor cycle and Bradbury sewing machines. Traditional crafts include wheelwrighting, clogging, hatting and the now-extinct local coal industry.

Subjects

Science and Industry

Fine Art Collection

The fine art collections mainly date from the mid 19th century to the late 1930s and focus on British painting. The 450 oil paintings include the Pre-Raphaelites, British Realism, Late Victorian genre to post War, pop and abstract works. Watercolours (400) include early English, 20th century and topographical. The collection of 700 prints is mainly from the 1960s onwards. There are also engravings, drawings, mixed media works, sculpture and a small group of 100 contemporary photographs on loan from the North West Arts’ collection. The most notable acquisitions were the watercolour drawings and engravings presented by Charles Lees in 1888 and with later additions in the 1890s. Marjorie Lees also added important material in 1952 and 1970.

Subjects

Fine Art

Biology Collection

The natural history collections are substantial and contain specimens of regional and national importance. The main part of the collection is of local origin and forms a valuable record of the changing local environmental conditions over the last two hundred years, charting the changes caused by the industrial revolution. There are 800 birds representing 320 British species. There are also regionally important collections of beetles and flies. Other invertebrate collections include 2,400 boxes of shells, notably the Taylor Collection of British land and freshwater molluscs. There is also a wide range of foreign mollusc shells. Associated biological material includes a library of over 2,000 reference books, some dating from the 18th century. In addition to current biological records, the museum holds 40,000 records dating back to the mid 19th century. The largest part of the biology collection comprises the nationally important Baron collection of over 50,000 birds’ eggs collected between 1900-1930. The worldwide butterflies and moths are the largest group of insects and include over 25,000 specimens collected between 1850-1980. The museum also serves as custodian to the Oldham Microscopical Society’s Nield Herbarium. This collection comprises over 10,000 plants from Britain (many from Oldham), USA, Norway and Switzerland, many of which are no longer found in the original locations. The plants were collected mainly by local people over the past 130 years and are a valuable scientific record.

Subjects

Plants; Birds; Insects; Biology

Numismatics Collection

A small collection.

Subjects

Numismatics

Arms and Armour Collection

A small collection of militaria.

Subjects

Arms and armour

Music Collection

An interesting element of the archive collection held at the Local Studies Library is the Walton Archive, comprising musical scores, books, pamphlets, photographs, newspaper cuttings, cassettes and CDs featuring the life and work of the Oldham-born composer.

Subjects

Music

Photographic Collection

The extensive photographic archive is housed in the Local studies Library and contains images of Oldham ranging from important public events to daily street scenes. Original prints, copy negatives and prints are held for the collection, which also includes postcards and slides.

Subjects

Photographic equipment

Oral History Collection

A small but growing oral history archive, available in the Local Studies Library. Some material has been purchased from the North West Sound Archive.

Subjects

Oral history

Archives Collection

The original local library collections stem from the Free Library established in 1885 (at one time housed with the museum). The present local studies library holds an extensive array of local history books, trade directories, transactions of various local societies, over 2,000 maps (tithe maps, early maps and ordnance survey maps), photographs, pamphlets and other documents associated with the history of the Oldham area. The library also hold runs of local newspapers such as the Oldham Chronicle (est. 1854) and the Oldham Standard (1859-1947), together with press cuttings dating from 1885 onwards. Local history material is also located at some of the branch libraries. (See also Music). There is also a World History Collection of archive material featuring the history and culture of Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian, Chinese, Afro-Caribbean, Ukrainian, Polish and Irish communities in the Oldham area.

Subjects

Archives

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Natural Science

The extensive biological collections are held at the Museum Resources Centre, with some displays at Letchworth Museum. They include birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibia, insects and other invertebrates. The Museum Resources Centre also houses the Hertfordshire County Herbarium. The Natural History department also holds a photographic archive relating to the natural environment. Collections of all kinds, but especially chalk fossils. Named collections include Fordham and C J Torbet.

Fine and Decorative Art

The Museum has good collections of works by local artists and of works by artists who visited or spent time in the area. It includes oils, watercolours, prints and drawings. The most significant artists represented in the collection are William Ratcliffe and Spencer Frederick Gore, both members of the Camden Town group, and Margaret Thomas.;The museum has a representative collection of ceramics, including some interesting examples of fairings and other decorative wares.; William Ratcliffe moved to Letchworth in 1906, producing a number of postcard views of the town for the Garden City Press. He moved to London a few years later, where he became involved with the Camden Town Group of artists. In about 1930 he returned to Letchworth. In 1946, he held his first one-man exhibition, in London, and in 1954 Letchworth Museum put on an exhibition of his work. The museum purchased a number of water-colours from this exhibition. Ratcliffe died in 1955. After his death his family distributed the best oils to provincial galleries, including Liverpool and Manchester, giving Letchworth the residue of his studio – a large collection of drawings and watercolours, with a few oils.;Spencer Gore was a founder of the Camden Town Group in 1911 – a society of sixteen of the most promising modern male artists. Gore came to Letchworth in August and November 1912, where he painted a series of paintings of the new town which, with their intensely bright colours, and stylised forms are now seen as the most radical works of his career.;Letchworth Museum has a large collection of works by Margaret Thomas. Born in Croydon, she emigrated to Australia as a child, returning to England to study art at the Royal Academy. From 1911 to her death in 1929, she lived in Croft Lane, Norton. She travelled widely, in the Holy Land, Spain, Italy, Egypt and Denmark, and some of the paintings she produced on her travels are displayed in the museum. he bequeathed twenty five of her oil paintings to the museum.

Archaeology

Letchworth museum holds substantial archaeological collections, including stray finds, but mainly archaeological excavation archives from North Hertfordshire. The collections range from prehistory to the nineteenth century. There are particularly important collections from excavations at the Iron Age/ Romano-British settlement of Baldock, which has been the subject of systematic investigation since 1968, including the burial goods of an Iron Age chieftain, cinerary urns used to bury cremated remains, metalwork and high quality Samian ware pottery used by the Romano-British townspeople. The archaeology displays are undergoing refurbishment during 2003-4. There is a programme of publication for the Baldock excavations due for completion in 2006.

Ancient Egyptian Collection

The museum holds 40 ancient Egyptian objects. Classes of objects represented in the collection include: jewellery; metal figures; pottery; scarabs; shabtis; stone vessels; other.

Subjects

Antiquities; Ancient civilizations; Antiquity; Archaeology; Egyptology

Local and Social History

Locally provenanced and British coins. There is a small collection of costume, mainly local and dating from the 19th century. Small collection of photographs of people, places and events in Letchworth.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collection includes tools, art, and ephemera of gardening, including a gallery about garden design and the evolution of gardening, as well as a recreation of Tradescant’s 17th-century Ark. The collections give an insight into the social history of gardening as well as the practical aspects of the subject.

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

Source: Wikipedia

Date: 2025

Licence: CC-BY-SA

The ‘core collection’ of approximately 11,000 was amassed by and/or under the influence of the Collection’s founder, Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth (1886-1967). Rachel was a prolific maker, particularly of lace and embroidery, and many of the items within the Collection were made by Rachel herself. She was also a keen traveller and together with donations from family and friends, amassed textiles from across the globe. Rachel’s vision was to create a craft house, a place of learning where traditional craft skills were kept alive. As early as 1912 she realised that she needed examples to develop her teaching. She therefore embarked on a lifelong passion for collecting examples from around the world to be used as teaching aids.

Her collection was created, not through wealth, but through donations from her far reaching networks and friendships. Her value system was different from that of many others and her model of collecting (and sharing) was highly personal.

Following Rachel’s death in 1967, the Collection was continued by the Trustees, and the Collection now stands at approximately 30,000 items. Artefacts range from the highly functional to the finest decorative or ceremonial pieces. Spanning five centuries, covering a broad range of techniques and originating from across the globe, this collection speaks as much about cultural, social and personal histories as it does about textile craft.

There are a number of key donors who have contributed to the collection, primarily friends and family members. Those of note include Maisie Currie, the Shuttleworth and Kay families, Mrs Shetliffe, Eleanor Countess Castle-Stewart, Mrs Lowther-Bouch, Mrs R Sagar, Annie Schofield Clegg, Joan Drew, Hilda Ashworth, Lady Daniel, Sybil Welsh, Lady Orlave Baden-Powell, Mrs Morse, the Barton family, Francis Kay, Margaret Foster and Beryl Dean.

Key acquisitions during Rachel’s lifetime were the Morton bequest (fabric samples), GF Purchas bequest (ecclesiastical embroidery), Mrs L F Day collection (whitework and embroidery). Other key items include the Wessex work embroidery and the Battle of Britain lace panel (acquired in 2015).

There have been no major changes in the focus of the collection over its lifetime, though the  collecting policy was informal following Rachel’s death. This has resulted in a degree of duplication. The current policy following a review in 2012 therefore returns to the original focus of the collection, following Rachel’s themes including representing different textile techniques and levels of craftsmanship. Whilst Shuttleworth family material is collected, it is reactive, rather than proactive, to add context to the collection.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2017

Licence: CC BY-NC

The current collection is in excess of 30,000 items. Key aspects within the collection are set out below:

Embroidery

Spanning from the 16th to 20th century, includes patchwork, applique, quilting and cording, samplers, white and black work, Ecclesiastical, crewel, cross stitch, Leek, canvas, Berlin woolwork, pulled and drawn thread work.

Some examples of note:

• A double sided votive offering of St Aloysius Gonzaga embroidered on paper (c. 1708)
• Privy Councillor’s gold embroidered coat
• Queen Anne and Jacobean bedspreads
• Elizabethan and petit point Stuart panels
• Victorian Ladies handwork
• Work influenced by William Morris
• The earliest piece of embroidery in the collection is dated c.1580
• There is also a range of embellished costume pieces and accessories

Lace

Over 8,000 pieces of machine and handmade lace including Bobbin Lace, needle lace knitted, tambour, crochet, tatting and netting lace.

Some types of lace of note:

• Binche
• Mechlin
• Venetian gros point
• Alencon / Argentan
• Genoese
• Milanese
• Honiton
• Bedfordshire
• Buckinghamshire
• Maltese
• Flemish

Textiles

Including 18th, 19th and 20th century English print, batik and block print samples, William Morris prints and design, paisley prints and shawls, bedspreads, quilts and table linens, knitting, weaving, brocade, feltwork, and pieces from across Europe, Asian, Africa, and the Americas.

Key examples include:

• Pre-1880 hand blocked samples from local company, Robert Hindle Co.
• L’animal dans le decoration’ – French portfolio sheet c.1898
• Lewis F Day prints
• Thomas and Elizabeth Wardle Leek embroidery over print c. 1900
• 1930’s paisley cone dress print
• A collection of Footprints Studio printing blocks from the mid-19th century to 1930s
• 1950s plain weave spun rayon samples
• 1950s English jacquard weaving
• 1920s Hungarian felted runner
• 1930 felt applique belt figures ice skating
• Hand knitted apron c. 1800
• 1910 handmade knitted stocking from Italy
• 1940s single ply hand knitted wool vest
• 1950s machine knitted slipper socks

Costume

For men, women and children, including bags, purses, collars, wedding garments, Kimonos and Obi, Chinese costume, shoes and hats with relevant surface decoration relating to the core collection.

Key examples include:

• A collection of 170 muslin dresses to 1920s printed chiffon dresses
• White muslin with woven check and lilac rosebud print c.1852
• Cream taffeta print skirt with train c 1870
• Grey alpaca wedding dress c. 1880
• Black and white houndstooth wool jacket and skirt with velvet trimming c 1905
• Black crepe de chine and net dress decorated with bugle beads and embroidered details c. 1925

Gawthorpe Textiles Collection also collects:

• International pieces of textiles to reflect the diversity and breadth of stitching and other  techniques.
• Tools that relate to the creation and production of handmade textiles and patterns with cultural or historical significance.
• Contemporary pieces of textiles of outstanding quality that reflect new, innovative techniques or advances in textile production that relate to the core collection.
• Significant items of costume, decorative arts and ephemera related to the Shuttleworth family always taking into consideration use, access and storage and how items relate to the core collection.
• A discreet resource collection for handling, outreach and education that relates to the core collection.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2017

Licence: CC BY-NC

Portrait Collection

George Marshall Medical Museum’s collection of 9 portraits that once hung in the boardroom of the Castle Street Infirmary in Worcester. Portraits illustrate several key figures in the founding and running of the Royal Infirmary including Dr. Wall, Bishop Isaac Maddox and William Russell.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

The Georgian Theatre Trust was established in 1960. Lady Nancy Crathorne, the Chair of the Trust, launched a successful fundraising appeal prior to the restoration of the Theatre and its reopening in 1963. Since 1963 the theatre has been keeping a record of any show which has been performed in the theatre. The theatre also has a collection of playbills and pictures/images dating back to the 18th century. In 1979, a Museum Exhibition Area was established and an Archive began to be developed. Comprehensive cataloguing of the collection began in 1994 and museum accreditation was first applied for, and awarded, in 2009. In 2014 the theatre was gifted a large collection of theatre related books by Paul Iles who was a former associate director of the theatre. The main item in the theatre collection is the theatre itself. The theatre also holds ‘the Woodland Scene’, believed to be the oldest surviving set of theatre scenery in the country.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

The Museum collections consist of the original theatre building and material relating to the period of the Georgian Theatre in Richmond (approx. 1788 – 1840). The Museum also collects material relating to Samuel Butler, the Theatre’s founder, his theatrical company and the contemporary circuit. The collections also reflect the activities of the Georgian Theatre Royal since its’rediscovery’ in the 1940s and its re-opening in 1963. This collection mainly consists of posters, programs, playbills and autographs from theatre productions and contemporary letters, reports, news cuttings and photographs of the building, its personalities and of actors who have performed in it. The collection currently amounts to 4,375 objects and the inventory is recorded on an electronic database, with appropriate back-ups. The collection includes “The Woodland Scene” which is a set of theatre scenery dating from the period between 1818 and 1836 and is believed to be the oldest surviving theatre scenery in the country. The Museum owns all items in its collection and does not have any long-term loans.

The Museum has collected material relating to theatre during the Georgian period (1714 -1830) as well as the post restoration period of the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond since 1963. The Trust has also collected appropriate material reflecting the history of the building during the intervening period when it was used for other purposes

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

Social History Collection

The collection holds artefacts about many aspects of the social history of Gillingham, including domestic and working life; local schools; the railway, including a ceremonial silver spade and wheelbarrow; a 1790 manual fire engine and information about the fire brigade; the Dorset Yeomanry; and First and Second World War memorabilia.

Subjects

Social History

Science and Industry Collection

There are artefacts from local trades and industries including the bacon factory, the glue factory, the brickworks, the brewery, the local dairy industry and garages and shops. There is also information about the silk and grist mill.

Subjects

Science and Industry

Geology Collection

A collection of local fossils and rock specimens.

Subjects

Geology

Archaeology Collection

Artefacts found locally of Iron Age, Roman and Saxon date, including a Romano-British skeleton.

Subjects

Archaeology

Photographic Collection

Among the photographs are reproductions of the five oil paintings and four stetches made by the artist John Constable, while he was staying with a friend, Rev John Fisher, Vicar of Gillingham, in 1820 and 1823. There is an extensive collection of old photographs and a photographic record of the present town has been compiled in recent years.

Subjects

Photography

Archives Collection

The founding collection of the museum was the documents of the Freame family and their forebears, the Husseys of North Dorset, an archive built up in Gillingham in the 19th century. This is supplemented by documents of the Green, Bell and Read families. Other local history archive material has since been added to the collection. There is a reproduction of the 1624 map of the Royal Forest of Gillingham.

Subjects

Archives

Other

Agriculture; Medals; Oral History

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC