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The foundation of the Collections was the McLellan purchase of art in 1854 and the building of the McLellan Galleries in which it was housed in 1856, and thereafter the establishment of the City Industrial Museum of 1870 in Old Kelvingrove House, both by Glasgow Corporation. The museums service was further developed as part of Glasgow Corporation’s civic city-wide vision linking businesses, educational and cultural agencies for the city’s social, economic, and educational development.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

The Collection, comprise an estimated 1.2 million items covering history, transport, technology, natural history, world cultures and fine and decorative arts. The Collection is recognised as having assets of local, national, and international significance and has benefitted from many significant gifts, bequests, and purchases throughout its history.

Glasgow City Council owns one of the greatest civic collections in Europe, containing over one million accessioned objects. Its size and diversity reflect the eclectic Victorian origins of the collections and 170 years of collecting across the general subject areas of art, natural history, human history and transport and technology. The collection has both local and international significance. It portrays the history, culture and environment of Glasgow and the west of Scotland but also reflects their role on the world stage. Since 2007 the charitable company Culture and Sport Glasgow (Glasgow Life) has managed the collection on behalf of the city.

The entire collection cared for by Glasgow Life Museums is a Recognized Collection of National Significance to Scotland. Therefore, any new acquisition must meet the Museums Galleries Scotland Recognition guidelines in terms of importance and quality. We will only collect material where its authenticity can be demonstrated, and which is fully provenanced. It must also be of sufficient importance to the appreciation, study and understanding of its subject to be recognised as of national stature. Priority will be given to collecting items which have associated contextual information such as documentation or personal testimony.

ART & DESIGN COLLECTIONS

World Art: China

2,500 items approx.

The collection traces the artistic development of China from the Neolithic period to the nineteenth century Qing dynasty. It is one of the largest and most comprehensive of its kind in Europe. The ceramics are highly significant, representing all the main types and covering every major dynastic period. The bronzes are also of international importance. There is also some ethnographic material donated by British missionaries who visited China in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

World Art: Japan and Korea

2,080 objects

Most of the Japanese collection was gifted by the Japanese government in 1878. This collection included architectural pieces, wood, lacquer ware, musical instruments, ceramics, metalwork, textiles, costume and paper samples. It also contains material collected by British people working in Japan. There is also a small group of Ukiyoe prints. The small Korean collection consists mainly of ceramics, clothing and coins.

World Art: Islamic Art and Culture

2,150 items approx.

The entire range of Islamic material culture is represented including religious and secular materials in the form of metals, glass, pottery and ceramics, costumes and textiles, jewellery, carpets, arms and armour, coins and medals, works on paper, furniture and woodwork, shadow puppetry, leather, stone, stucco and a whole range of composite ethnographic material from 40 different countries and regions of the world. The collection dates broadly from the tenth to the late twentieth century.

World Art: International Art 1960-2000

585 items approx.

This collection includes art in all media by artists working outside Scotland from 1960 to 2000. There are works by many of the period’s key figures in British art. There are also important works by artists from France, Switzerland, the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, and South Korea. There is also a strong and coherent group of work by Aboriginal artists from Australia and Papua New Guinea and small but important collections of contemporary African sculpture and Inuit art.

World Art: 21^st Century

50 items approx.

In 2007 Glasgow Museums in partnership with The Common Guild was awarded £1million by the Art Fund through its Art Fund International scheme. The aim of the funding is to establish an international context for GoMA’s recent acquisitions of Scottish art. From 2007-2012 the focus is on building a collection of high-quality international photography, film, video, audio and text-based work with a preference for acquisitions that reflect socially engaged practice.

European Art: Italian Art

150 paintings, 46 drawings

This collection is one of the most important in the UK. It includes works dating from the fourteenth to the late nineteenth century. The core of the collection is from Archibald McLellan’s collection purchased in 1856. A number of important fifteenth and sixteenth century Venetian School works by major artists such as Bellini, Titian, and Paris Bordon form the backbone of the collection. It also has seventeenth and eighteenth century works by Carlo Dolci, Guardi and Salvator Rosa.

European Art: Spanish Art

60 paintings

The Spanish paintings collection is the second largest in the UK after the Bowes Museum. The majority of the paintings date from the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and include works by El Greco, Cano and Murillo. Later works include paintings by Goya, Picasso, Juan Gris and Salvador Dali. The collection of Spanish paintings at Pollok House is of exceptional historical interest and the substantial group of Habsburg portraits is the finest outside Madrid and Vienna.

European Art: Dutch, Flemish and German Art

472 paintings

Dutch art forms the largest part of this collection and includes Old Master paintings by artists such as Rembrandt, de Lairesse, and Ruisdael. There is also a significant collection of nineteenth century Hague School paintings. The majority of the works from the southern Netherlands dates from the seventeenth century, among them paintings by Rubens and Jordaens. The German School paintings are mainly either sixteenth or eighteenth century and include artists such as Cranach and Amberger.

European Art: French Art

340 oils & pastels, 60 drawings & watercolours

The collection comprises works from the period 1800-1950 and is one of the finest and most important in the United Kingdom. It ranges from Géricault in the early nineteenth century to paintings by Derain and Matisse. It covers some of the key artistic movements of this period and includes some stunning individual masterpieces by artists such as Monet, Degas and Van Gogh.

European Art: British Art to 1960

500 paintings, 1250 works on paper approx.

This collection covers the period 1600-1960 with many of the key figures in British Art being represented. It includes groups of eighteenth and nineteenth century English landscapes, English Victorian narrative, history and genre paintings, a group of English Pre-Raphaelites, examples from the first two decades of the twentieth century by the Camden Town group and the Vorticists, and some significant holdings of individual English artists’ work from the period 1940 to 1960.

European Art: Prints

4,750 prints

This collection covers work in the period 1470 to the present and includes etchings, engravings, woodcuts, wood engravings, lithographs, linocuts and other types of print originating from England, Wales, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Spain and other European countries. It includes examples of work by some of the most notable European artists including Dürer, Goya, Gauguin and Whistler. There is also a small group of photographic prints.

European Art: Sculpture

750 items

This collection comprises traditional and architectural sculpture, mainly from France, Germany, England and Scotland in a variety of materials, including marble, alabaster, bronze, wood, terra cotta, ivory and plaster. The sculptures date from around 1200 to 1960. There is a large collection of mainly medieval works amassed by Sir William Burrell. There is an important group of sculpture by Rodin. The nineteenth and twentieth century British sculpture is wholly figurative, with an emphasis on portrait busts. There is little from the Baroque period or from 1500 to 1800.

Scottish Art: Scottish Art to 1960

1,500 paintings, 2,000 works on paper approx.

This collection includes works by many of the key figures in Scottish Art in the period 1600 to 1960. The collection includes eighteenth and nineteenth century portraits, eighteenth and nineteenth century landscapes and Scottish Victorian narrative and history paintings. Scottish artists working between 1940 until 1960 are also represented. Significant collections of work by the Glasgow Boys and the Scottish Colourists are covered separately.

Scottish Art: The Glasgow Boys

190 paintings, 430 other works

This collection covers the most vital period of the Glasgow Boys’ activity from 1880 until 1900, although later works from 1910-20 are also represented. All of the 25 artists associated with the Glasgow Boys group are represented, including works by Joseph Crawhall, David Gauld, James Guthrie, George Henry, E. A. Hornel, William Kennedy, John Lavery, D. Y. Macgregor, Henry Melville, Stuart Park, Paterson, Alexander Roche and E. A. Walton.

Scottish Art: The Scottish Colourists

64 paintings, 36 other works

The four Scottish Colourists, Samuel John Peploe, John Duncan Fergusson, Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell and George Leslie Hunter are represented within the collection, which spans the main period of the Colourists’ activity and encompasses a broad range of subject-matter.

Scottish Art 1960-2000

750 works

The collection includes works by many of the key figures in Scottish art in this period. Artists include John Bellany, Eduardo Paolozzi, John Byrne, Ken Currie, Peter Howson, Steven Campbell, Alison Watt and Ian Hamilton Finlay. The collection also contains good examples of photography including works by Joseph McKenzie and Oscar Marzaroli. There is also a significant collection of conceptual art, with works by locally based artists with international reputations, such as Christine Borland, Graham Fagen, Douglas Gordon and Ross Sinclair.

Scottish Art: Prints

3,500 works

This collection covers the period 1750 to the present. The largest group of work was produced using the process of etching and boasts fine examples by all the best Scottish etchers between 1880 and 1930. These include ‘The Big Four’ of the etching revival – James McBey, Muirhead Bone, D. Y. Cameron, and William Strang. There are eighteenth & nineteenth century ‘reproduction’ prints and the period 1930 -1960 is represented by prints which illustrate the taste of the time.

Scottish Art: 21^st Century Collecting

75 works

This collection includes works in all media acquired since 2000. There are significant pieces by artists living and working in the Glasgow area including recent graduates of Glasgow School of Art. Many of these artists have international reputations. The collection has notable examples of works that can be categorised as painting or sculpture but also contains installation and audiovisual works highlighting current trends in international artistic practice.

European Decorative Art & Design: Tapestries

200 works

This is one of the major tapestry collections in the world. Unique strengths include the number of extremely rare medieval and early sixteenth-century Burgundian and Flemish tapestries, and a large number of tapestries from fifteenth- and sixteenth-century secular collections that differ from the tapestries in European Royal and Noble collections and are therefore of great significance. It is particularly rich in German and Swiss tapestries and includes an important group of English-attributed tapestries of the late sixteenth century.

European Decorative Art & Design: Stained Glass

700 items

The Burrell Collection contains late Gothic and early Renaissance stained glass from Switzerland, Germany, France, the Netherlands and England. It dates from the fourteenth to the nineteenth centuries, with the majority of pieces from the fifteenth and early sixteenth century. This is an exceptional collection of international importance because of its size and quality. It contains an excellent representative sample of European and English stained-glass production of the later medieval period with a number of first class pieces.

European Decorative Art & Design: Glass

1,000 items approx.

This collection includes items of glass dating from 1500 to 1960. The majority of the pieces are eighteenth century English. The Spanish glass collection is one of the most important in the UK, including particularly fine examples of vases, bottles and flasks from Andalusia and Catalonia. There is a small but important collection of sixteenth century Venetian glass and an excellent and diverse collection of Dutch engraved drinking glasses dates from the later seventeenth and eighteenth century.

European Decorative Art & Design: Ceramics

4,000 items approx.

This collection dates from the late medieval period to the present. It includes a significant group of Italian maiolica, Spanish lustreware, Dutch tin-glazed earthenware and German stoneware. There is an extensive collection of English eighteenth and nineteenth century ceramics as well as a few pieces from Sèvres and Meissen. There is also a good range of twentieth century commemorative wares and some important pieces of studio pottery.

European Decorative Art & Design: Metalwork

1,563 items

The collection of European metalwork is wide-ranging. There are European base metal objects from the early medieval period and eighteenth and nineteenth century European pewter. There is Sheffield Plate and electroplate objects mainly from England. The collection of precious metals includes pieces from the seventeenth through to the 21^st century. There are examples of English domestic and ecclesiastical silver as well as some regimental and presentation pieces.

European Decorative Art & Design: Jewellery

900 items approx.

The collection of European jewellery dates from the seventeenth to twentieth centuries. Jewellery worn by women predominates but there is also jewellery for men and children. The collection is predominantly British and continental European. Most of the jewellery was donated by Mrs Anne Hull Grundy. There is a smaller group of items collected with, and complementing, the costume and textile collection. There is also a small group of contemporary jewellery dating from the 1970s to the 1990s.

European Decorative Art & Design: Furniture and Interiors

900 items approx.

This collection spans the period from c.1340 to the present day. The pre-1685 collection mainly focuses on work in the Burrell Collection and Provand’s Lordship and includes early English oak furniture, carved sixteenth-century panelling, and significant pieces with Royal associations. The 1685-1800 collection includes furnishings relating to Pollok House. The later collection covers single pieces of furniture, suites and interior fittings designed mainly between 1900 and 1970.

European Decorative Art & Design: Decorative Arts c.1860 – c.1920

400 items approx.

This collection reflects the progressive period of design and manufacture from the beginnings of design reform in the mid-nineteenth century. It includes individual pieces by designers, craftspeople and manufacturers associated with the International Arts and Craft Movement, the Aesthetic Movement, the Celtic Revival and Art Nouveau. It includes excellent examples of domestic and ecclesiastical furniture, glass, ceramics, silver and enamelwork and is particularly strong in the area of stained glass.

European Decorative Art & Design: Contemporary Craft

500 items approx.

This collection dates from the second half of the twentieth century into the 21^st. Ceramics is the largest group, with many Scottish-based and English potters represented. The glass is mainly Scottish made, with a small group of Scandinavian and Dutch work. The textiles include hangings and tapestries, mainly by Scottish-based artists. The metalwork and jewellery include winning entries for the Young Designer Silversmith of the Year Award.

Scottish Decorative Arts & Design: Stained Glass

500 glass panels, 4,000 cartoons approx.

This collection covers the period c1850-1970s and reflects the popularity of leaded glass manufacture and design in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Glasgow. The collection spans both the sacred and the secular, from windows and panels for churches to those made for Glasgow’s banks and civic buildings and domestic properties. It includes leaded and stained-glass panels, designs and full-sized cartoons for panel designs and associated manufacturing items and samples.

Scottish Decorative Arts & Design: Glass

900 items approx.

This collection includes material dating mainly from the 1870s to the 1990s and covers a wide range of glass manufacturing techniques employed by Scottish and especially Glasgow glass manufacturers. It includes examples of blown, moulded, engraved, cut and enameled glass, and late twentieth century art glass including sculpture and paperweights. There are also domestic drinking vessels and tableware and vases, some important bottles dating to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and ‘friggers’ (glass novelties).

Scottish Decorative Arts & Design: Post-Medieval Ceramics

2,000 items approx.

This collection spans the main period of Scottish ceramic manufacture from c1750 to c1990, with an emphasis on ceramics manufactured in Glasgow and the West of Scotland. The collection includes domestic tableware, utensils and tea services, ornaments and decorative items, sanitary ware, commemorative pieces and ceramic shards. Early twentieth century Scottish studio and art pottery and late twentieth century art ceramics and sculptures are also represented. There are also significant holdings of excavated ceramic material, including material from production sites, in the archaeological archive.

Scottish Decorative Arts & Design: Metalwork

700 items approx.

This collection comprises a number of groups. Objects in base metals, such as pewter and brass, include items from domestic, ecclesiastical, regimental and civic life. The extensive collection of objects in precious metals, mainly silver, which were made and marked in Scotland or by Scottish makers, ranges in date from the mid seventeenth century to the 21^st. There are items from domestic, civic, ecclesiastical and regimental life.

Scottish Decorative Arts & Design: Jewellery

600 items approx.

Scottish traditional jewellery includes pins, annular, ring, penannular and luckenbooth brooches made and/or worn in Scotland from the Bronze Age to the present day. There is a large group of historicist jewellery, mainly English-made, inspired by traditional Scottish or Celtic forms, or by Scottish history. There are large groups of transport-related insignia and badges, and insignia and badges from Scottish regiments. There is a small group of civic jewellery, mainly formal chains of office.

Scottish Decorative Arts & Design: Furniture and Interiors

500 items approx.

The collection covers pieces that were made in Scotland between 1600 and 1980. The pre-1800 collection includes examples of furniture, interior panelling and fittings and wooden domestic objects. The 1800 to c1945 collection includes work by West of Scotland designers and cabinetmakers or made for properties in the West of Scotland. The later collection includes post-war utility-ware furniture, crafts commissions and catalogues from Glasgow and West of Scotland furniture makers and retailers.

Scottish Decorative Arts & Design: Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Glasgow Style

4,500 items approx.

This collection focuses on work produced by Glasgow artists and designers between c.1890 and c.1920 working in the Glasgow Style. This includes work by individuals who studied or taught at Glasgow School of Art and those who designed or manufactured decorative arts in Glasgow at the time. The collection also includes later work from the 1920s -1940s by a number of the style’s key proponents. The collection spans the decorative, fine and graphic arts.

Costume & Textiles: European Textiles

3,000 items approx.

This collection includes Scottish, British and European woven, printed and embroidered textiles. Early textiles include sixteenth to early eighteenth century needlework. The majority of the later collection dates from the early nineteenth century and includes Glasgow Style textiles, Turkey Red printed cloths, trade union and other banners, embroidered samplers and lace, and carpets by James Templeton & Co. and A.F. Stoddard. Contemporary textiles include printed cloths by Glasgow-based Timorous Beasties.

Costume & Textiles: European Costume

17,000 items approx.

This collection comprises Scottish, British and European men’s, women’s and children’s costume and accessories. The majority of pre-modern items date from the mid-eighteenth century, but there are approximately forty earlier pieces. It is representative of fashionable dress and is particularly strong in nineteenth and twentieth century women’s wear. There are also uniforms, Ayrshire work infant’s wear, underwear, sports and leisurewear and accessories. There is also a large collection of fashion plates, magazines and patterns.

European Musical Instruments

400 items approx.

This collection is largely made up of British instruments. There are also some French, German, Italian and Swiss pieces. They date mainly from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries but a small number are earlier. The largest part of this collection was collected by the Glen family of instrument makers in Edinburgh. It includes a variety of woodwind, string and brass instruments. A significant collection of Scottish instruments came from the musicologist Dr Henry George Farmer.

NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS

Zoology: Fish

2,500 specimens approx.

The collection consists mainly of Scottish and N.E. Atlantic species, but there are also some from other parts of the world. Specimens were collected from the late nineteenth century to the present. The main scientific strength of the collection is the large number of deep-water specimens of fish from off the west coast of Scotland collected by the RS Challenger and Walter Herwig. The collection also contains several unique and rare items including a few cited and figured specimens.

Zoology: Amphibians

100 specimens approx.

This collection includes frogs, toads, newts and salamanders plus a single example of a Caecilian. The specimens were collected from the early nineteenth century to the present. They are mainly from Scotland, and mainland Europe. There are also a few from England, Ireland, India, Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Mexico, North and South America. Several specimens came from the Andersonian College collection in Glasgow and are of historical importance.

Zoology: Reptiles

1,600 specimens approx.

The reptile collection includes species from all orders of reptiles: Chelonia (turtles), Sphenodonta (tuatara), Squamata (snakes and lizards), Crocodylia (crocodiles and alligators), although not all families are represented. Specimens date from the early nineteenth century to the present and come from all over the world. There are examples of some rare and endangered species, such as the tuatara from New Zealand, and potentially some type material.

Zoology: Birds

9,000 specimens, 250 nests, 30,000 eggs approx.

This collection includes all orders of birds, although not all families are represented. It includes birds from all over the world but with an emphasis on the Western Palaearctic, especially Scotland. Specimens were collected from the early nineteenth century to the present. There are some examples of extinct species including a great auk, passenger pigeon, huia and moa. Nearly all resident British birds are represented and there is a particularly good collection of Scottish species.

Zoology: Mammals

1,800 specimens approx.

The mammal collection includes species from all over the world and covers most orders of mammals, ranging in size from tiny shrews to the Asian elephant known as Sir Roger and two adult giraffes. British orders are very well represented. Of the non-British mammals, there are good collections of Marsupials, Primates, Deer and Bovids. Specimens were collected from the early nineteenth century to the present. There are some excellent examples of taxidermy from well-known taxidermists.

Zoology: Insects

200,000 specimens approx.

The collection is predominantly British but there are large holdings of butterflies, moths and beetles from all around the world. The collections of butterflies and moths from Spain and Southern Africa are particularly comprehensive and of high scientific value. There are also many specimens from South America, Africa, South East Asia, Australasia and the Pacific. The specimens date from the nineteenth century to the present, with the majority being from the twentieth century.

Zoology: Non-Insect Arthropods

51,000 specimens approx.

The non-insect arthropod collection consists of Chelicerates (spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, etc), Crustaceans (crabs, lobsters, shrimps, barnacles, woodlice, etc) and Myriapods (centipedes and millipedes). The strength of this collection is in the number and range of Scottish spiders with virtually all families and habitats covered. The crustacean collections of Ostracods and Malacostracans also cover a wide range of species from around the UK.

Zoology: Molluscs

100,000 specimens approx.

This collection includes specimens of terrestrial, fresh water and marine molluscs from all over the world. It offers an excellent representation of virtually all families, environments and geographic ranges with particularly good collections of freshwater bivalves, terrestrial molluscs from Europe, worldwide terrestrial island species and tropical marine species. The specimens date from the eighteenth century right up to the present day. There are also several Blaschka glass models of molluscs.

Zoology: Echinoderms (Starfish & Sea Urchins)

750 specimens approx.

This collection is composed of approximately 600 dried specimens and 150 specimens in spirit. The majority of the dried specimens are Asteroidea (sea stars) and the remainder are Echinoidea (sea urchins, sand dollars and heart urchins). There are wet specimens from these classes as well as Holothuroidea (sea cucumbers). The specimens are mainly coastal and deepwater Scottish species but there are a few tropical and temperate species from around the world.

Zoology: Other Invertebrates

2,000 specimens approx.

This collection includes small orders of invertebrates such as Porifera (sponges), Cnidaria (corals, jellyfish, sea anemones), Platyhelminthes (flatworms, tapeworms, flukes), Annelida (bristle-worms, earthworms, leeches), Nematoda (roundworms), Brachiopoda (lampshells), Bryozoa (moss animals) and Protozoa (foraminifera, radiolarians, amoebas, flagellates). Specimens come mainly from Scotland although there are also specimens from around the world. There are also several Blaschka glass models.

Botany: Flowering Plants and Ferns (Vascular Plants)

80,000 specimens approx.

The collection encompasses the vascular plants: the ‘higher’ flowering plants and ferns. The majority of the collection is in the form of labelled herbarium sheets comprising pressed and dried plant material mounted onto card. The specimens are mainly from the British Isles, with an emphasis on Scotland, but also include some 10,000 specimens from overseas. Several are of historical interest. There is also a small collection of fruit, seed and timber samples.

Botany: Mosses and Liverworts (Bryophytes)

30,000 specimens approx.

The bryophyte collection consists of mosses and liverworts (including hornworts), mainly in the form of dried plant material, mostly loose or mounted on card, and contained in small paper packets; some are stuck in historical plant books. The vast majority of the specimens are from the British Isles and the majority of the specimens have been collected in Scotland. The Stirton collection is of international significance containing 203 individual Type names.

Botany: Lichens

6,000 specimens approx.

This collection represents a broad coverage of British lichens in the form of dried lichen material virtually all contained in small paper packets. A few are mounted on larger herbarium sheets. The majority of the specimens are from the British Isles and many of these have been collected in Scotland. There are also important international collections, most notably from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. The collection includes significant numbers of Type material.

Botany: Algae

10,000 specimens approx.

The algal collection represents a good reference set of the marine flora of the British Isles, particularly the Atlantic coast. The collection consists of specimens of marine seaweeds, smaller collections of freshwater material and blue/green algae (cyanophytes), and microscopic slide collections (chiefly diatoms). The majority of the specimens are from the British Isles, mainly from the west of Scotland. There is also an important collection of early ‘cyanotype photograms’ of algae by Anna Atkins.

Botany: Fungi

3,000 specimens approx.

The fungi collection consists of fungi such as the familiar mushrooms and toadstools, including bracket and jelly types, and smaller cup fungi, rusts and other microfungi. Also included are the slime moulds (Mycetozoa). The majority of the specimens have been collected in Scotland. The important Mycetozoa collections are from England and there is a small amount of material from overseas. The British specimens have high historical value due to the presence of type material.

Geology: Rocks

4,200 items approx.

This is a general collection including a wide variety of examples of the three major rock groups, ranging in age from the Pre-Cambrian to Quaternary. There are also specimens illustrating rock structures. The rocks are mainly Scottish but with some from England, Wales and Ireland and a small number from other parts of the world. Rock thin sections are also represented, mainly of Scottish dolerites and of rocks from the Girvan area. Extraterrestrial rocks are represented by about 10 meteorites.

Geology: Minerals

8,000 items approx.

The quality of the mineral collection is high. It contains a wide range of mineral species including examples of native elements, carbonates, oxides, sulphides, sulphates, phosphates and silicates. There is an emphasis on specimens from Britain and the rest of Europe but there is also material from North and South America, Asia and Australia. It includes historical material collected in the 18^th century. There are also some glass and wooden models, showing different crystal forms.

Geology: Fossils

40,000 items approx.

Overall the quality of the fossil collections is very high. A high proportion is Scottish with fossils ranging from Cambrian to Quaternary in age. It includes examples from most of the major animal and plant groups. Invertebrates dominate and include fossil corals, brachiopods, bryozoans, molluscs, arthropods, echinoderms and graptolites. The fossil vertebrate collection is smaller, containing mainly fish with a few higher vertebrates. The fossil plant collection dates mostly from the Carboniferous although other periods are represented.

HUMAN HISTORY COLLECTIONS

The Human History collections reflect the history of Glasgow and the west of Scotland from the earliest times to the present day. They also reflect world history, particularly the history of those parts of the world which have directly influenced or been influenced by Glasgow and the west of Scotland.

The world cultures collection largely represents areas where there was a British colonial or other presence. It should now also reflect the diaspora communities in Glasgow. We will not collect sacred material and we are unlikely to obtain any historical material, so the focus will be on collecting in collaboration with the communities themselves in areas such as contemporary art, photographic or film records.

Ancient Civilizations: Ancient Near East

200 items approx.

This is a small collection of largely unprovenanced antiquities donated by various individuals since the late nineteenth century, with a particularly important collection of 123 examples of works of art gifted by Sir William Burrell. Its chief strengths are Sumerian stone sculptures and figurines, Neo-Assyrian palace reliefs, bronzes from Luristan and Western Iran, examples of inscriptions in cuneiform on baked clay bricks, tablets, a cone and a stone relief. Other material includes Phoenician glass, a marble head from South Arabia and figurines from Iran.

Ancient Civilizations: Egypt

5,000 items approx.

This collection comprises antiquities from Egypt and northern Sudan, dating from the Predynastic Period through to the Islamic Period (5500 BC – 641 AD). The collection is representative of all periods of ancient Egyptian civilization and includes objects such as pottery, shabtis, amulets, scarabs, beadwork, cartonnage, figurines, funerary cones, cosmetic equipment and textiles. There is a small but representative collection of coffins and mummified human and animal remains.

Ancient Civilizations: Cyprus

480 items

The largest part of this collection was donated in 1870 by Sir Robert Hamilton Lang. His collection includes a large number of pots, mainly from the Bronze Age, a small number of bronze weapons, over a hundred glass vessels from the Greco-Roman period, lamps, figurines, coins and copper alloy objects. There is also an unusual ceramic model of a chair. Smaller collections of Cypriot material have been added to this by other collectors, including Edgar Peltenburg.

Ancient Civilizations: Greco-Roman

650 items approx.

This collection comprises antiquities from Mediterranean lands settled by the ancient Greeks and the Romans, dating from the Minoan and Mycenaean Periods to the fall of Rome (2200 BC to fifth century AD). The most spectacular object is the Warwick Vase, which originally came from Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli. There are 139 Greek ceramics, terracotta model acting masks and figurines dating to the fourth and early third centuries BC, from excavations on the Aeolian island of Lipari, Italy.

Ancient Civilizations: European Prehistory

800 items

This small collection contains material from the British Isles (apart from Scotland), Denmark, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, France and Belgium. It includes pottery sherds; a number of complete bowls; antler pieces including antler sleeves with axe-heads; a bronze axe-head; human skulls and animal bones. The majority of artefacts are lithics such as flint handaxes, choppers, axe-heads, knives and scrapers. The material dates from the Palaeolithic to the Medieval period.

Ancient Civilizations: Andean

646 items

This collection includes material covering the period AD 50– 2002. Object types represented include ceramics, textiles, tools, mummy wrappings, body ornaments, costume, domestic artefacts, paintings and contemporary sculpture. The material originates predominantly from coastal cultures and includes representative samples of coastal pre-Colombian Peruvian ceramics. Of particular note are two Late Nasca period complete figures.

Scottish Archaeology: Mesolithic

40 standard boxes approx.

The collection consists of archaeological artefacts dating from c. 7,000 BC to c. 4,000 BC and is a mixture of antiquarian discoveries and exchanges, chance finds and more recent excavation assemblages. The Mesolithic material includes midden material containing shells, fish bone, animal bone and antler points; and lithics such as flint scrapers. It comes from the south and west of Scotland, in particular mainland Argyll and the Inner Hebrides, and Dumfries and Galloway. Key sites include: Cnoc Coig, Oronsay, Argyll and Bute; Risga, Loch Sunart, Highland.

Scottish Archaeology: Neolithic

50 standard boxes approx.

The collection dates from 4,000 BC to about 2,500 BC and consists of excavation assemblages and chance finds including a large number of polished stone axes and some Seamer type axe-heads; lithics such as flint and quartz flakes and other tools and debris; jadeite axe-heads; flint caches; cup and ring marked stones; a small amount of pottery sherds and carved stone balls. Geographical sources include locations across West, Central and North Scotland. Key sites include: Stoneyburn Farm, South Lanarkshire.

Scottish Archaeology: Bronze Age

150 standard boxes approx.

The collection contains bronze swords, rapiers, axe-heads, daggers, beakers, food vessels, urns, flint daggers, adzes, cist slabs, arrowheads and a quantity of human remains. The material in the collection dates to 2,500 – 700 BC and geographical sources include the west of Scotland and Ireland. More recent excavations, like Templewood, Stoneyburn Farm and Machrie North, have well-documented, stratified, published material. Key sites include: Templewood, Argyll and Bute; Stoneyburn Farm, South Lanarkshire

Scottish Archaeology: Iron Age and Roman

370 items

The collection consists of pottery sherds and (near) complete vessels from Roman sites including Samian ware, fragments of ceramic building materials from the Antonine Wall, terracotta lamps, a distance slab, a mosaic, metalwork and some human remains of possible Roman or Iron Age date. The collection spans the seventh century BC to the fifth century AD and includes finds from Dumfries and Galloway, Perthshire, the Glasgow area and England. Key sites include: Summerston, City of Glasgow.

Scottish Archaeology: Viking and Early Medieval

10 standard boxes approx.

The bulk of the collection dates to between the ninth and the eleventh centuries AD with a few individual objects extending the date range into the twelfth or thirteenth century. The collection predominantly comes from the West of Scotland with a large part being an excavation assemblage from Drimore in South Uist, the Western Isles. Other geographical areas are also represented including the Cumbraes, Argyll, Skye, Caithness and Ireland. Key sites include: Drimore, South Uist, Western Isles; Isle of Skye, Highland

Scottish Archaeology: Medieval

2,500 standard boxes approx.

The collection spans the fifth to sixteenth centuries AD and consists of carved stones and carved stone fragments, ceramics including complete and reconstructed glazed jugs and a complete E-ware vessel, wood and leather artefacts, logboats, quern stones; ashlar building blocks, wood samples, glass sherds, coins, keys and dress pins. Key sites include: Loch Glashan, Argyll and Bute; High Street, City of Glasgow

Scottish Archaeology: Post-Medieval

4,500 standard boxes approx.

The collection contains archaeological material dating from c. AD 1600 to 1950 predominantly from the Greater Glasgow area. The collection consists of a wide range of material from domestic, ecclesiastical and industrial sites. A significant part of the collection relates to the pottery industry. A number of assemblages from across the Glasgow area include domestic assemblages, for example pottery, clay pipes, glass, iron fittings, roof slate fragments, textile fragments, coins and trade tokens, as well as artefacts associated with Glasgow Cathedral. Key sites include: High Street, Glasgow; Glasgow Cathedral, Verreville Pottery, Bell’s Pottery and Delftfield Pottery.

World Cultures: North America

641 items

This collection includes material from the period 1870 – 2005, from the Arctic and Subarctic, Pacific Northwest, Eastern Woodlands, Plains, Southwest and South East America. Particularly strong areas include Inuit material from the Arctic, beadwork from the Eastern Woodlands of Canada, and a collection of historically important Plains Lakota material from the Battle of Wounded Knee (1891). The collection includes costume, tools, ceramics, ritual apparatus and domestic tools.

World Cultures: South and Central America

1,700 items approx.

This collection includes material dating from 50 AD – 2002. It includes pre-Columbian ceramics, textiles, workbaskets, weaving tools, metalwork, mummy wrappings, human remains, body ornaments, costume, stone carving and furniture, as well as contemporary ceramics, textiles, body ornaments, basketry, weapons, ritual paraphernalia, domestic artefacts, furniture, paintings, souvenirs, crafts, contemporary sculpture, photographs, masks and musical instruments.

World Cultures: Africa

4,500 items approx.

The African collection has material covering the period 1850-2005. It includes a broad range of cultural artefacts such as ceremonial masks, carvings, weapons, domestic items, body ornaments, costume, textiles, furniture, musical instruments, ritual objects and wood, stone and metal carvings. In addition there are a number of unique items and others that are rare examples of their originating cultures such as an ancestral screen from the Kalabari people of the Niger River Delta in Nigeria.

World Cultures: South Asia

3,500 approx.

This collection material dates from c.1100 AD to 2006 and includes costume, jewellery, religious figurines, domestic items, ritual paraphernalia, weapons, ornaments, musical instruments and archaeological material. The 1897 John Innes Wright collections from Nepal and Darjeeling of utilitarian material are of social and historical significance. Of particular importance is the material from the 1886 Colonial and Indian Exhibition and the 1888 Glasgow International Exhibition.

World Cultures: South East Asia

1,500 items approx.

This collection has material dating from 1870-2003 and includes religious figures, wood and ivory carvings, costume, toys and games, musical instruments, weapons, tools, jewellery, tattooing implements, manuscripts, lacquer ware, bronze and silver ware, photographs and coins. It includes a number of rare objects, such as a pair of votive plaques from Burma, a fourteenth century bronze container from Java and a bed of gilded teakwood with glasswork acquired from the Royal Palace at Mandalay.

World Cultures: Oceania

2,400 items approx.

This collection includes material dating from the 1780s to 2007. It contains a significant number of unique or extremely rare items of historical interest such as a ‘witchdoctor’s purse’ made of spider’s web from Vanuatu and the earliest Maori free-standing ancestral figure. The nineteenth century material from the Torres Straits represents a particularly outstanding and coherent group of international importance. Also included are fine examples of contemporary indigenous art from Papua New Guinea, Australia and the Torres Strait.

Glasgow History: Domestic and Personal Life

15,000 items approx.

This diverse collection brings together a range of items to represent the daily experience of life in a changing urban society at individual and community levels. It includes: housing and home life; homelessness; home furnishing; food preparation; shopping; eating drinking and tobacco consumption; heating, sanitation, cleaning and keeping clean; disability; birth and birth control; childcare and childhood; marriage; poverty; death and burial; emigration and immigration; friendly and fraternal societies and crime and punishment.

Glasgow History: Working Life

40,000 items approx.

This collection contains material dating from the eighteenth century to the present. It includes a wide range of objects used for work or depicting work. It covers the personal experience of work, skills and jobs, labour organisations, industry, mercantile interests and commercial enterprise and represents areas such as financial and insurance services, office and clerical work, ceramic and glass production, construction and civil engineering as well as the tobacco, chemical and catering industries, among others.

Glasgow History: Sport and Leisure

10,000 items approx.

The collection includes leisure and sporting pursuits in Glasgow, both as recreation and as a career. This is a large collection covering theatre, music hall, pantomime, circus and cinema. It includes material from Mayfest (1983 –1997) and Glasgow’s Great Exhibitions. For sport a wide range of activities are represented, mainly through medals, shields, trophies, programmes, membership cards, associated ephemera and some costume.

Glasgow History: Politics, Protest and Popular Movements

6,000 items approx.

The collection covers all forms of political activity and popular protest and agitation related to Glasgow and some from further afield. The collection is strong in material related to nineteenth and twentieth century franchise reform, trade unionism, socialist politics and co-operative and temperance movements. There is also material related to anti-apartheid organisations, anti-nuclear protest, the peace movement, poll tax protests, and the miners’ strike of 1984-5. There are items related to the ‘Red Clydeside’ era.

Glasgow History: Civic History

5,000 items approx.

This collection covers items related to the governing of Glasgow, the growth of the burgh and city, including the incorporation of surrounding villages and burghs such as Calton, Pollokshaws, Govan, and Partick. The material culture reflects civic responsibility for a wide range of public services, a field in which Glasgow had a global reputation for innovation (as well as problems) – such as policing, transport, sanitation, housing, public health, baths and washhouses and public utilities.

Glasgow History: Health

1200 items approx.

This collection includes material relating to health care within Glasgow. The most significant part is the National Health Service Mental Health collection. It covers 200 years of mental health service provision and care, from the establishment of Glasgow asylums to NHS Trust status. There are also items from chemist shops (early twentieth century), physicians’ equipment and instruments, nurses’ badges, some dental equipment and instruments, a dental chair and ophthalmic equipment.

Glasgow History: Religion

10,000 items approx.

The collection contains quite diverse material representing the religious life of the city. Medieval forms are represented by a number of gravestones and archaeological objects, but the collection is much stronger in the Reformation and post Reformation period. Christian objects predominate through to the middle of the twentieth century, at which point the collection diversifies with collections of Buddhist, Islamic, Hindu, Sikh and Jewish material.

Glasgow History: Migrant Communities

2,000 items approx.

This collection covers the city’s migrant communities and community identities, with particular strengths in Glasgow’s Gaelic, Jewish, Irish, Italian, Chinese and South Asian communities. Much of the material relates to, or comes from, individuals. There is also a small collection of leaflets and other ephemera documenting immigrant communities’ involvement in local and national politics.

Glasgow History: Glasgow at War

4,000 items approx.

This diverse collection covers the effect of warfare on the city and people of Glasgow. It focuses on the personal experience of warfare within Glasgow and as experienced by Glaswegians abroad. It also includes the experience of the ‘home front’ in the First and Second World Wars; militaria associated with the Glasgow volunteer regiments; and the anti-war and peace movements.

Glasgow History: People and Places

5,000 items approx.

This collection includes images of Glasgow people and places. It illustrates the changing town and cityscape of Glasgow and the surrounding burghs, which were absorbed into a ‘Greater Glasgow’, and the people who lived there. There are works by professional and amateur artists and photographs of the city and its people. People represented in the collection range from the city’s elite merchants and politicians through to ordinary people.

Glasgow History: Women’s History

500 items approx.

This collection deals with women’s roles in Glasgow, with a particular emphasis on women’s political organisations and the fight for equal status. The woman’s suffrage collection includes hunger strike medals, badges, banners, sashes, photographs, postcards books and journals. There is material from the anti-slavery movement, the Co-operative Women’s Guilds, the temperance movement and material relating to the history of ordinary Glasgow women, exploring the changing role of women.

Scottish History: Rural Life

500 items approx.

This collection includes domestic, religious and folklore artefacts as well as material relating to farming and rural industries. Agricultural objects form an important part of the collection with the art of ploughing is especially well represented. Clydesdale horses are represented by the skeleton of the ‘Baron of Buchlyvie’, photographs and ephemera. Life on St Kilda is particularly well represented with objects relating to domestic life, sheep rearing, textile manufacture and bird hunting.

Scottish History: Government and Nobility

1,500 items approx.

This collection covers Scotland’s governance and governing classes between the medieval period and the Parliamentary Union with England in 1707. It consists of impressions and copies of seals of Scottish towns, cities and political and ecclesiastical leaders, weights and measures, prints, paintings, documents and some elements of furniture and costume. There are images of royalty and nobility in portraits, prints, seal impressions, medals and furniture.

Scottish History: Jacobite and Hanoverian

500 items approx.

The collection holds objects related to the 1715 and 1745-1746 Jacobite rebellions. It has objects carrying inscriptions, slogans and symbols, many with layered meanings. There are also groups of objects connected both directly and indirectly to the Stuart family and Jacobites such as portraits, snuff boxes, drinking vessels and weapons. There are also collections of armour, art and coins connected with King William III, and the subsequent Georgian monarchy between 1689 and 1746.

Scottish History: Banking and Finance

500 items approx.

The collection is associated with Scotland’s royal mints from the thirteenth century to the twentieth century through collections of coins, notes, prints and paintings. The earliest monarch shown is King Alexander III (1249 – 1285). There are also paper bank notes, cheque books and banking books which were produced and circulated in Scotland from the eighteenth century onwards, as well as works of art, ephemera and locks and keys. There is an emphasis on west of Scotland banks.

Scottish History: Education

36,000 items approx.

The collection covers formal Scottish education from pre-school through to secondary school, in particular as a result of the 1872 Education (Scotland) Act. The bulk of the collection material relates to schools in the west of Scotland. Recent additions have included artefacts from Glasgow girls’ private schools, Laurel Bank and Park Schools. There are also items related to Scottish Universities, especially Glasgow University, Anderson College and Edinburgh University.

Scottish History: Toys and Games

4,000 items approx.

Many of the items in this collection were collected for the old Haggs Castle Museum. The majority reflect childhood play and games in Britain, focussing largely on the Scottish experience from the 1880s to the 1980s. The largest part of the collection relates to dolls and their accessories. Other significant areas are toy and model vehicles and children’s books. There are also smaller numbers of scrapbooks, comics, games, rocking horses, construction toys, toy soldiers, domestic sets, Noah’s arks and animals and Zoetropes.

European Arms and Armour

7,200 items approx.

This collection includes material spanning around 2,000 years. The core of the collection come from R. L. Scott’s bequest of one of the finest collections of European arms and armour in the world. This is supplemented by the bequest of important Scottish material from Charles Edward Whitelaw. The collection is predominantly medieval and early modern in date so each of the major components of arms and armour are represented including complete armours, helmets, swords and other edged weapons, spears lances and halberds, archery equipment, crossbows and shields. The collection of firearms includes many early muskets and pistols and their accoutrements, while more modern pistols, rifles, shotguns and machine guns are also well represented. A collection of small cannon, shells and cannon balls shows the development of larger-calibre weapons. The collection also includes a large assemblage of military riding equipment, such as spurs and horse armour. The R. L. Scott bequest also included a fine collection of around 3,000 rare books and manuscripts relating to medieval and renaissance fighting practice. It includes several rare and unique medieval and early modern manuscripts and books from Italy, France, Spain and Germany, as well as from Britain.

Coins, Tokens & Medals: Ancient Coins

2,000 items approx.

The collection comprises gold, electrum, silver and bronze coins from the ancient Mediterranean, of which many are modern copies. A majority come from the Roman Republic and Empire, as well as from the ancient Greek world (the earliest dating to the sixth century BC). Other coins come from Byzantium, Carthage in North Africa and the Parthian Empire in ancient Iran.

Coins, Tokens & Medals: Islamic Coins

450 items approx.

This collection includes a variety of coins and related material from different parts of the Islamic world. The biggest group belongs to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, from several parts of the Ottoman Empire, encompassing south east Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. There are glass weights for monitoring metal coins that date back to eleventh century Fatimid Egypt. There are also jewellery and bridal headdress from Syria and Palestine that incorporate coins.

Coins, Tokens & Medals: Communion Tokens

4,500 items approx.

The communion tokens in the collection span the period 1684 to 1950, with the majority dating from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Most of the tokens originate from Scotland, but there are also a few from Northern Ireland, England, Canada, New Zealand and the United States of America. The Scottish tokens reflect the Protestant church including the Church of Scotland, Relief Churches, Free Churches, United Presbyterian Churches and Reformed Presbyterian Churches.

Coins, Tokens & Medals: Trade and Transport Tokens

800 items approx.

The collection includes material dating from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries from Great Britain, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada and the West Indies. The trade tokens are frequently made of copper and bear the names of cities, burghs, employers, businesses and trades which produced them. The transport tokens and awards include civic awards for long service and safe driving. Included in this collection are examples of common methods of payment made for public transport.

Coins, Tokens & Medals: Military Medals

80 items approx.

This collection includes material dating from 1650 to 1945. The earliest medal commemorates the battle of Dunbar and there are also important anti-Jacobite medals. The majority of the Scottish medals cover the period 1805 to 1945 awarded during the Napoleonic, Crimean, Indian, Persian and Boer Wars, and the two world wars. There is one Victoria Cross from the Crimean War. There are also awards for long service and peace settlements.

Faith-based Collections: Buddhism

250 items approx.

This collection includes material dating broadly from the twelfth to the twentieth century. It contains objects relating to the different ritual and social practices of Buddhism in different countries and cultures. The majority of the objects come from Burma, with others originating in Thailand, Tibet, Sri Lanka, Japan, China and Scotland. The collection is dominated by a range of stereotypical and iconographic representations of Buddha and the Bodhisattvas.

Faith-based Collections: Christianity

10,000 items approx.

The collection dates from early medieval to the present. It is mainly European in origin but there are also objects associated with the work of Scottish missionaries around the world. There are devotional items used directly in the practice of different types of Christianity as well as paintings, stained glass, carved stones, furniture, textiles, vestments and jewellery. Christianity in Scotland is particularly well represented, with bibles, teaching aids, prayer cards and church furnishings.

Faith-based Collections: Hinduism

250 items approx.

The Hindu collection has two main parts: a collection of sculpture in various sizes and media representing the Hindu pantheon of deities; and a collection of items associated with temple or worship in the home, including puja (worship) equipment, metalwork, woodwork and textiles. The collection dates from the later nineteenth century and a collection of late twentieth century objects was added for the opening of the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art in 1993.

Faith-based Collections: Islam

2,500 items approx.

This collection represents both the cultural and religious history of Islam. It includes cultural items and ritual items used in the practice of the religion. The earliest objects come from the eleventh century and the latest from the late twentieth century. The whole range of material culture is represented in the form of metals, glass, pottery and ceramics, costumes and textiles, jewellery, carpets, arms and armour, furniture, shadow puppetry, leather, stone, stucco and a range of ethnographic material

Faith-based Collections: Judaism

200 items approx.

This collection is principally made up of art. The major part is associated with Jewish refugees who came to Scotland in the twentieth century. It portrays this community’s experience of persecution in Europe before their arrival in Scotland, and includes some key objects relating to the Jewish holocaust. The life and work of the Jewish community in twentieth century Scotland is also represented. Devotional practices are represented by Torah scrolls, tefillin, tallith, candle sticks and havdalah.

Faith-based Collections: Sikhism

34 items

Objects in this collection represent four of the five Khalsa that Sikhs carry with them as symbols of their faith – Khanga, a type of comb, Kara, a steel bangle, Kacchha, a form of undergarment and Kirpan, a ceremonial dagger. There are also objects for use in religious ceremonies and a range of quasi-religious objects such as artwork and a model of the golden Temple at Armitsar. The collection largely comes from Scotland and India and it is mainly twentieth century in date.

Faith-based Collections: Other Religions

20 items approx.

This diverse collection portrays and represents a variety of other contemporary religious practices from round the world, such as a Parsee ‘Tower of Silence’ and Jain images. There are five objects which were presented to Lord Inverclyde by Haile Selassie, a revered figure by Rastafarians. Contemporary minority faith groups in Glasgow, such as Bahai and Brahma Kumaris are represented principally by oral testimony and photographs, though there are also some physical objects.

TRANSPORT & TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIONS

These collections reflect the important role that Glasgow and the west of Scotland played in the development of transport and technology, and the social and economic impact that it had on the area. The collection started as a way of showcasing the industrial products of the area in terms of design and manufacture, but now also includes material relating to the use and operation of these industrial products. We will continue to collect material which demonstrates industrial innovation in the area but a particular emphasis for future collecting will be material which places the vehicles and machinery in a social and industrial context, and which reflects the multidisciplinary way in which we use and experience transport and technology. Priority will be given to well-provenanced objects which have a strong associated personal history. We will not simply collect vehicles but also other material such as clothing, ancillary equipment, memorabilia, decorative artefacts, images, artistic responses and oral histories.

Specialist equipment for transport-related sports and leisure pursuits are becoming an increasingly important element of contemporary society. We wish to reflect this through the development of a collection of items related to skateboarding and other urban sports, water sports and winter sports, which reflect local trends and practice.

The transport and technology collections were originally collected in close partnership with manufacturers and operators in the city. We wish to augment this with contemporary material which reflects current developments in science and engineering in the city.

Road Transport: Cars

93 vehicles, 4,000 other items approx.

This Scottish car collection contains vehicles from six manufacturers producing cars in Scotland dating from 1900 to 1927. The remainder of the vehicles are mixed and offer examples of the makes of cars that were commonly seen on the streets of Glasgow. There are also car parts, accessories, petrol pumps, motorists’ clothing, photographs, trophies and ephemera from the Royal Scottish Automobile Collection and a large collection of photographs of the motoring journalist George Oliver.

Road Transport: Buses

4 vehicles

This is a small but significant collection of busses and related material. The vehicles represent three of the largest fleets of buses and trolley buses used by Glasgow Corporation. There are also sections of bus engines: a gearbox and a torque converter. There is also a collection of bus stop and fare stop signs relating to travel between the 1940s and the 1990s and a number of Glasgow Corporation uniforms, ticket machines and ephemera.

Road Transport: Cycles

105 cycles, 100 other items approx.

The collection reflects the development of cycles from a wooden Draisienne hobby-horse from the 1820s through to modern high performance bicycles. The largest part consists of pedal-driven bicycles, including possibly the oldest bicycle in the world. Of the twentieth century bicycles, many are Scottish made, including those by the Glasgow firms of Rattrays and Robertson. There are also three carbon-fibre bicycles: two made in 2004 by Graeme Obree and a Lotus of 1994.

Road Transport: Motorcycles

85 items

This collection consists of 85 motorcycles, scooters, mopeds, motorised bicycles, motorised trikes and bubble cars dating from 1899 to the present day. It is particularly representative of the 1920s and 1960s. Contemporary technology and design is represented by a Ducati 916. Other well-known manufacturers’ include Triumph, Honda, BSA, Ariel, BMW and Harley Davidson. There are five motorcycles with sidecars, two speedway bikes, two German bubble cars, and a 1960 Vespa scooter.

Road Transport: Caravans

4 items

The collection has three themes, traditional Gypsy or Roma lifestyle, travelling showmen, and the Faslane Peace Camp. These represent three aspects or uses for caravans in Scotland as a whole, but do not represent a range of types used in the 20^th century.

Road Transport: Commercial Vehicles

17 vehicles

Seven heavy goods vehicles form the largest group in this collection and consist of an Albion A10 lorry, converted to rail use, three Albion Flatbed lorries, a converted Austin Van, a Caledon Model ‘E’ lorry, and a Morris BMC open truck. In addition there are six light goods vehicles, including an electrically powered milk van. A Daihatsu van was acquired specifically for an Asian art project. Two difficult terrain vehicles were used by private and utility companies during the 1970s.

Road Transport: Emergency and Breakdown Vehicles

14 vehicles, 150 other items approx.

The largest part of this collection relates to fire fighting. There are two early manual vehicles, three horse-drawn engines and a number of motorised fire appliances. Police vehicles include a Ford Granada traffic patrol car, a Rover armed response vehicle, a prisoner transport van and a motorcycle and side-car. There is also a standard Bedford ambulance, and an Automobile Association BSA M21 motorcycle and sidecar, a roadside box and uniform.

Road Transport: Horse-Drawn Vehicles and Steam Carriages

20 vehicles, 20 other items

There are thirteen four-wheel vehicles in the collection. Five were used to carry passengers including the Brougham, the ‘Ardrishaig Belle’ charabanc, the Lawson omnibus, the mail coach and the waggonette. Commercial vehicles are represented by vehicles used by Muir the bakers, Buchanan the distillers and a hearse built in Greenock. There are ten two-wheeled vehicles. The oldest and most significant item is the undercarriage and engine of a Gurney steam carriage from 1831.

Road Transport: Disability Transport

15 items

This collection includes items that assist the physically disabled with movement. Most are of British manufacture. A few items were made and used before 1900, but most date from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The vehicles include a Metro Hackney disabled access taxi and a three-wheeled A.C. Model 70 invalid car. There are a number of wheelchairs and walking aids such as walking sticks, callipers and a Dynamic Parapodium exoskeleton.

Road Transport: Prams

48 prams, 50 other items

The collection includes Scottish-built prams and a wide range of British prams, covering over a century of production. There are seven dolls prams, one Victorian pram, seven Edwardian prams, five coach-built prams from between the wars, and ten prams dating from the 1940s and 1950s. Twelve prams from the 1960s and 1970s include a Churchill Montana and a 1974 Silver Cross pushchair. There are also prams and pushchairs from the 1980s to the present day.

Rail Transport: Railways

8 locomotives, 500 other items approx.

The collection contains eight locomotives with examples from the five large Scottish railway companies, representing locomotive production in Scotland from the 1880s until the 1940s. A collection of permanent way contains some very early rails and sleepers. Railway equipment includes signalling devices, a hand operated trolley, train staffs, railway station furniture and signs, signal box repeaters, time switches and other items used by railway engineers. There is also archival material.

Rail Transport: Trams

7 trams, 1,250 other items approx.

This collection includes seven trams dating from a horse-drawn car of 1898 to a ‘Cunarder’ of 1952, the last double-decker tram built in the UK. A significant number of street furnishings include fare zone and tram stops. Operational equipment incorporates uniforms, ticket machines, badges and medals, drivers’ logbooks, as well as destination screens. The archive is one of the best collections of drawings, photographs and ephemera of a tram system in the UK.

Rail Transport: Subway

5 vehicles, 900 other items approx.

This is one of the best collections of early underground transport anywhere in the world. Two of the three subway carriages date from 1896 and were originally fitted for cable traction. The third, a trailer car with no cable traction ability, dates from 1898 and was introduced to increase passenger capacity. A battery locomotive and repair wagon date from time of electrification in 1935. There is a collection of objects and fittings from Merkland Street Station, engineering equipment and ephemera.

Rail Transport: Railway Models

530 items approx.

The majority of the models are mass produced toy scale models. There is also a small quantity of high quality, amateur models such as two Caledonian Railway locomotives and fine manufacturer models, including British Rail steam, diesel and electric locomotives, and models of 1830s-1840s steam locomotives. There is a highly detailed scale model of St. Enoch Station and Hotel and a demonstration model of George Bennie’s railplane.

Air Transport: Civil Aviation

3,500 items approx.

A large archive collection relates to the Scottish & Northern Airlines during the 1930s. There are two early experimental engines and a 1970s Rolls Royce Olympus 593 engine. The Lockerbie disaster of 1988 is represented by a group of objects donated by Dr Jim Swire whose daughter, Flora, died in the tragedy.

Air Transport: Military Aviation

530 items approx.

The most important item in this collection is Supermarine Spitfire LA198, the last surviving Spitfire flown by the 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron. Supporting material includes a collection of oral histories taken from the pilots who served with this squadron. The remainder of the collection consists of a number of aircraft parts. The most significant is the propeller from a Beardmore World War I fighter aircraft. Other items, donated by the Ministry of Defence, are from World War II German aircraft.

Air Transport: Aeroplane and Aerospace Models

25 items approx.

A model of Glasgow Airport showing the original Basil Spence designed terminal of 1966 was renovated in 2000. There are also a small number of aerospace models used in experimental research into hypersonic flight by Terence Nonweiller, professor of aeronautics at Glasgow University. The Scottish Aviation Collection of models was transferred to National Museums Scotland in 2012.

Maritime Transport: Shipbuilding

800 items approx.

The collection contains a wide range of material and represents most of the important shipbuilding firms. Material covers all the main aspects of the shipbuilding process from planning, designing, building, launching and fitting out. It includes a fragment from the hull of Charlotte Dundas (1803) and fittings from the Comet (1812). Also of great importance is the company archive material relating to shipyards of the Napier family. There are a number of tools and equipment as well as trades union material.

Maritime Transport: Marine Engineering

9 engines, 330 other items approx.

This collection includes complete ship engines, engine parts and associated equipment, engine and boiler models and archival material. The oldest item is the original cylinder of the Comet of 1812. There are also side-lever engines from PS Comet II (1821) and PS Industry (1828) and steam turbine engines from King Edward (1901). A ¼ scale model of a steeple engine for SS Simla, made by Tod & McGregor, was exhibited in the Paris International Exhibition in 1855.

Maritime Transport: Ship Models

788 models

The ship model collection is one of the finest in the UK. It covers a wide variety of ship model types, from intricate seventeenth century Admiralty models, early nineteenth century prisoner-of-war models, early shipbuilding half-hull models and highly detailed twentieth century exhibition models. There is one Dutch votive model and several marked up half-hull models used to aid the difficult process of plating a ship. Over half of the models are directly related to Clyde shipyards.

Maritime Transport: Shipping

3,350 items approx.

This collection draws together items relating to the way ships and boats have been used. The finest material relates to Glasgow based shipping companies and consists of posters and other advertising material, flags, ships’ bells, tableware and items of uniform. There is a significant range of material relating to very early steam shipping on the Clyde. Other significant material includes the collection of Anchor Line publicity posters and the small wooden jolly boat from SS Dunara Castle.

Maritime Transport: River Clyde

4,300 items approx.

This collection draws together material specifically related to the river Clyde. It includes ship models which represent vessels with a direct link with the river. The Clyde is represented in many paintings and drawings and this collection has a number of works by John Knox, Horatio McCulloch, William Simpson and one by L. S. Lowry. Other material relates to the Clyde Navigation Trust, maps and plans of the river and a large collection of photographs and ephemera.

Science, Engineering & Technology: Optical Technology

75 items approx.

This collection includes technical instruments used in navigation, microscopy and surveying; instruments used to create and project still and moving images; spectacles; and opticians’ lenses to test eyes. Technical instruments include theodolites, range finders, binoculars, microscopes, telescopes and a surveyor’s drainage level made by John Gardner who worked in Glasgow under James Watt. There are also cameras, lenses and associated equipment.

Science, Engineering & Technology: Scientific instruments

350 items approx.

This collection ranges between technical instruments utilised in astronomy, navigation, microscopy and surveying, to instruments used to generate, measure and store electricity and to measure gas. Others relate to aspects of air and temperature, to magnetism, to measuring specific gravity in liquids and to weighing and calculating. Amongst the finest items are an early nineteenth century orrery made by John Fulton. There are also a number of instruments developed by Lord Kelvin.

Science, Engineering & Technology: Stationary Engines and Electrical Power

60 items approx.

The collection of stationary engines comprises large and small steam engines, hot air engines, oil and gas engines and electric and hydraulic motors. It contains a number of very important items such as a Newcomen steam engine, a Parsons turbo-generator and a Gramme Dynamo of very early date. There is a good range of machines built by Glasgow manufacturers such as Barr & Stroud, Mirrlees Watson and Mavor & Coulson.

Science, Engineering & Technology: Tools

650 items approx.

This collection comprises a wide range of hand tools, from those used by shipwrights to plumbers. It includes over 100 tools from the Glasgow toolmakers Alexander Mathieson & Son. The collection contains toolboxes owned by shipwrights, engineers, a railway coachbuilder and a plumber. Smaller numbers of tools represent other trades including cooper, cabinetmaker, joiner, saddle-maker, draughtsman, sail-maker, wheelwright, shoemaker, tinsmith, brass finisher and carriage-maker.

Science, Engineering & Technology: Engineering Models

150 items approx.

This collection of models illustrates developments in engines, boilers and components in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Heat engines form the largest part of this collection and can be divided into four sections: steam, gas, petrol and diesel engines. Mechanical engineering models include fine examples of industrial machinery such as a steam hammer and a hydraulic press. There are also civil engineering models including models of cranes and dock structures.

Science, Engineering & Technology: Agricultural Technology

24 items

This collection is small in scope. It includes the steam traction engine ‘Pride of Endrick’, built by Ruston and Hornsby in 1920. This was used as a show engine, travelling to agricultural and other shows around Scotland. It was accompanied by a threshing machine built by E. Foden Sons and Co. Ltd. Other items are two-wheeled horse-drawn vehicles, including two farm carts from Fullwood Mains Farm in Linwood, and a sour milk cart, used at Cranslagroority Farm, Bute.

Science, Engineering & Technology: Communications Technology

700 items approx.

This collection includes items relating to telegraphy and telephony; sound recording; broadcasting and amplification; televisual broadcasting and recording; printing, typing and computing. The material dates from the nineteenth century through to the present. Telegraphy equipment includes submarine cable sections and early telephones dating from the 1870s to a Trimphone from the 1960s. The most important item in the televisual collection is the Baird Televisor receiving set of 1930-2.

Science, Engineering & Technology: Industrial Machinery

80 items approx.

This collection encompasses textile, metal, woodworking, and rope-making machines and items relating to construction and printing. Some objects, such as the carpet manufacturing machines from James Templeton & Co., and the machinery from the Gourock Rope Works Co. Ltd, were collected as companies modernised their factories. Other items, such as the cigarette-making machine from Stephen Mitchell & Son and the Glasgow Corporation tinsmith’s workshop machines were rescued as premises closed or businesses were wound up.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

From its informal foundation by ministerial memo back in 1899, the Government Art Collection, known under this name since 1981, has sought to acquire works of art for display in Government buildings, today showcasing the UK’s commitment to culture in the context of diplomacy.

Before 1899, works of art were acquired on an ad-hoc basis by Government departments as bequests, purchases, gifts or as loans from national collections. Responsibility for the furnishings of government buildings was transferred from the Office of the Lord Chamberlain to the Office of Works in 1828, and works of art generally came to be included in this arrangement, although this varied between departments: Department of the Environment (1970); Office of Arts and Libraries (1979), Department of National Heritage (1992), Department of Culture, Media and Sport (1997) and, finally, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (2016).

The Foreign Office’s recognition of the benefits of displaying works of art in diplomatic posts abroad to promote Britain led to the Treasury, in 1935, allocating an annual sum of £250 for acquisitions of works of art. This initiative led to the establishment of the first ‘Overseas Picture Committee’ who advised on acquisitions and encouraged the purchase of historical works primarily.

 

There was no strategic collecting policy until 1945, when the Collection’s first curator was appointed and a new Picture Committee was set up, represented by the directors of the national galleries. It was during this time that the Collection’s acquisition policy was developed and funds were allocated for purchasing modern works of art. This direction continued over the years enriching the Collection with works by living artists and leading to a strategy of commissioning site-specific works for British embassies from 1949.

Today, the Collection comprises upwards of 14,000 works of art and is the most widely dispersed collection of British art. As an accredited Museum since 2010, it continues to grow, capturing the talent and interests of each generation. Adapting and reflecting the world around it, the ambition of the Government Art Collection is to continue to challenge and acknowledge its historical roots whilst acquiring new works that reflect contemporary British society. Currently the Collection is on show in 361 locations in 129 countries. The Government Art Collection has a commitment to public engagement through digital platforms, loans and partnership projects.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2020

Licence: CC BY-NC

Primary Collection

These works form the core Collection and are recorded as DCMS assets.

• Works acquired by the Collection’s current governing body, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and by preceding governing bodies.
• Works donated or bequeathed to the Collection either individually or in groups.
• Works transferred to the Collection from other Government departments.

Secondary Collection

Works for which the Government Art Collection does not have formal title but for a variety of reasons provides an advisory role in the care, display, interpretation of and access to works owned by other Government departments.

• Works absorbed into the Collection having been inherited with a particular building acquired by the Government.
• Works purchased through the agency of the Government Art Collection with dedicated funds by other Government departments, separate from the DCMS or its precursors, for display in a particular building.
• Works acquired by other Government departments and later accessioned by the Government Art Collection for tracking purposes (based on the quality of the work of art).
• Works, the exact provenance of which is unknown, already located in Government buildings and accessioned by the Government Art Collection. These items are cared for and used by the GAC until/unless a third party who can prove title to the work is known.
• State Portraits (copies of official royal portraits commissioned by the Government in the 19th and 20th centuries) for display in Government buildings.

Tertiary Collection

• Photographically produced reproductions, not counted in Government Art Collection statistics. Archive Collection
• Materials associated with works in the Collection, for example maquettes.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2020

Licence: CC BY-NC