Explore collections

Personalia collection

Core collection relating to Handel comprises about 800 items, a majority of which are works on paper and printed scores or books. In 1996 and 1998 respectively, the Collections Trust acquired two important oil paintings: a portrait of one of Handel’s opera sopranos Faustina Bordoni (?1700-81) by Bartolomeo Nazari (1699-1758) and a portrait of Jennens by Thomas Hudson (1701-79).There are also small amounts of sculpture, manuscripts, medals and ephemera. The Gerald Byrne collection makes up about 700 of these 800 items (see separate listing of this collection). The Museum holds furniture with which to dress the rooms but this does not form part of the core collections.

Subjects

Music; Architecture; Music scores

Gerard Byrne Collection

In 1998 the Handel House Collections Trust acquired the Byrne Collection, a major Handel collection which consists of about 700 objects including a letter from Handel to Charles Jennens regarding Belshazzar and Messiah, an autograph leaf from Esther, Mozart’s arrangement of a Handel fugue, John Mainwaring’s Memoirs of the life of the late George Frederic Handel (1760) annotated by Jennens, early editions of operas and oratorios, and prints, portraits and sculpture.

Subjects

Music; Music scores

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collections at Harewood are in various ownership, with Harewood House Trust owning a proportion, and being the recipient of loans of varying lengths primarily from the Lascelles family. Harewood House, built in the 1760s by Edwin Lascelles is renowned for its magnificent Robert Adam interiors, superb Thomas Chippendale furniture and world class collection of paintings. It has been home to the Lascelles family ever since, reflecting the changing tastes and styles of the past 250 years. Harewood House Trust continues to be a living place as well as a home for the great art of the past.

Edwin Lascelles started building Harewood House in 1759. He employed the finest craftsmen of the time: York-born architect John Carr, fashionable interior designer Robert Adam, England’s greatest furniture maker Thomas Chippendale and visionary landscape gardener Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown. Edward Viscount Lascelles, the son of the first Earl of Harewood, established a collection of outstanding Sèvres and Chinese porcelain, and he commissioned the young JMW Turner and Thomas Girtin to paint watercolours of Harewood House and its landscape. The 6^thEarl of Harewood, Henry George Charles Lascelles inherited money from his uncle, the 2^nd Marquis of Clanricarde, and indulged in his passion for Venetian paintings, especially works by some of the great Masters of the Renaissance including El Greco, Tintoretto and Titian among others. He collected chiefly between 1917 and the 1920s and was unique amongst British collectors at a time when a large number of Venetian pictures were sold to the United States. The bequest from Lord Clanricarde also included paintings, books and Lady Canning’s watercolours.

In 1986 this Grade 1 listed Building, together with the Grade 1 listed Stables, Gatehouse and Lodges, the Lake and Walled Gardens, along with 150 acres of listed Parkland, was leased to the Harewood House Trust, a registered educational Charity, established by the 7^th Earl of Harewood and subsequently endowed by the proceeds of land sales.

Since the Trust was founded in 1986, substantial investment has been made to safeguard and revitalise the House and gardens. In 1994, Harewood House Trust became a Registered Museum, the first do to so within the historic house sector in England and in 1998 Harewood House Trust was awarded Designated status for its collections. In the thirty years since its foundation, Harewood House Trust has continued to grow and develop, with the preservation and interpretation of the House and the development of the gardens for the public benefit as its primary concern. It has also acquired a number of works of art relating to the history of the house and its existing collections.

Harewood House Trust is constantly looking for ways to enhance visitors’ engagement with the collection. Changing exhibitions and displays provide an opportunity to show the diversity of Harewood’s collections and engage visitors with works of art and the stories behind them. Since the opening of the Terrace Gallery in 1989, ‘Harewood Contemporary’ has produced exhibitions and projects by a great variety of contemporary artists including Sonia Boyce, Anya Gallacio, Anthony Gormley, Sydney Nolan, Mark Quinn and Mark Wallinger, to name a few. Most of the artists take inspiration from Harewood, its rich collections and history.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2022

Licence: CC BY-NC

Harewood House Trust owns a varied collection of works ranging from Old Master paintings and 19^th century works on paper to furniture, wallpaper, carpets, important archives relating to the Lascelles family and their patronage, as well as a growing collection of contemporary work inspired by collections in the house. The Trust owns a number of Old Master paintings including works by or attributed to Bastiani, Lippi, Longhi, Palma, de Ribera and Teniers, as well as an important portrait by Hoppner of the collector Edward, Viscount Lascelles. Works on paper, of the late 18th and early 19th century, include a key watercolour of Harewood Castle by JMW Turner and examples by Paul Sandby Munn, Francis Stevens and Peter de Wint. Important examples of furniture by Chippendale include the magnificently restored State Bed, and an outstanding group of giltwood pier glasses. The Trust also owns the very fine 18th century Chinese wallpaper hanging in the East Bedroom, various objets d’art including a piece by Fabergé, and examples of House Steward Samuel Popplewell’s correspondence and memorabilia relating to the abolition of the slave trade. The collection of contemporary art includes works by Jason Brooks, Susan Collins, and Jorma Puranen.

There is a large archive dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, relating to the creation of Harewood House (including plans) and papers relating to the Estate and Village. This is owned by the Trust and on long term loan to the West Yorkshire Archive Service.

The Lascelles family’s West Indian trading archive, owned by Harewood House Trust, is currently on long term loan to the Borthwick Institute, University of York. It forms a nationally significant archive detailing the family’s involvement with the Caribbean Slave trade and their ownership of lands and plantations in the West Indies.

The Grade 1 Listed building, housing the collections, is leased to Harewood House Trust on a long lease. This historically significant building by John Carr of York has Robert Adam interiors and was altered by Sir Charles Barry in the 1840s. The interior decoration scheme includes original wall paintings by Biagio Rebecca, Angelica Kauffman and Antonio Zucchi.

In addition to the collections owned by Harewood House Trust, there are collections on long term loan from the 7th Earl of Harewood’s Will Trust and from the 8th Earl of Harewood. There are also many other items belonging to family members or trusts, which are being placed on loan for varying lengths of time. These include rich and diverse fine and decorative art collections, with works from the 16th to 21st centuries, including Chippendale furniture, English and European paintings, including Renaissance masterpieces by Cima, El Greco, Tintoretto, and Titian. There are significant 18^th– century family portraits by Cosway, Grant, Hoppner, Lawrence, Munnings, Reynolds, Richmond, Salisbury, Singleton and Winterhalter.

Works on paper on loan to the Trust include an outstanding collection of late 18th century and early 19th century watercolours of Harewood House and its surrounding landscape by Girtin, Turner, and Varley, as well as Lady Canning’s unique watercolours of India and Europe. Other works on paper include examples by Gainsborough and Landseer, Gaudier-Brzeska, Piper and Sargent.

Significant architectural plans relating to the history of the House, from the 18th century and later, include works by John Carr of York, Robert Adam, Charles Barry, Humphrey Repton and Sir Herbert Baker.

The furniture collection on loan to the Trust is recognised as one of the best collections of Chippendale in the country and forms part of Chippendale’s largest ever commission. Thomas Chippendale Senior and Junior worked at Harewood from the 1760s to the 1790s, providing a superb range of furniture including pier tables, chairs, mirrors and the celebrated Diana and Minerva Commode amongst many other pieces.

There is a remarkable collection of eighteenth-century Sèvres porcelain on loan, which includes a tea service reputedly made for Queen Marie-Antoinette and an impressive collection of mounted and unmounted Chinese porcelain, mainly collected by Edward, Viscount Lascelles.

The carpets in the house are notably fine. These include two 18^th– century Axminster carpets, echoing the ceilings by Robert Adam, in the Yellow Drawing Room and Music Room and fine Victorian Axminster carpets in the Library, Cinnamon Drawing Room and State Bedroom.

There is a collection of photographs by the pioneering British photographer Roger Fenton, one of the first war photographers.

Jacob Epstein’s outstanding and monumental sculpture Adam is on display in the Entrance Hall.

The clock collection includes French and English examples from the 18^th and 19^thcenturies by makers such as Cronier, Ellicott, Hindley, Sarton, Sotiau, Vulliamy and Wright.

The collection of fans ranges from the 18^th to the 20^th centuries. Most were wedding presents to Princess Mary.

There are also significant collections relevant to the social history of the House and Estate. These would include the copperware in the kitchens, which was commissioned by the 3^rd Earl and Countess as part of a wider scheme of improvements for the servicing of the kitchen and House more generally.

The archives of the 6^th Earl of Harewood and Princess Mary have also recently been placed on long term loan to the Trust.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2022

Licence: CC BY-NC

The current incarnation of Harlow Museum (Harlow Museum and Walled Gardens) is an amalgamation of collection from three entities, Passmores House, The Study centre, Mark Hall Cycle Museum.

The original Museum was at Passmores House in Harlow from 1973 to 1999, this museum held the following collections: natural history, Roman, social history (called ‘folk life’), Preserved specimens, Textiles, Paper, and Photography.

Passmores House closed, and the contents were adjoined with a reduced cycle collection at Mark Hall Cycle Museum, and this was renamed in 2003 as the Museum of Harlow.

Originally the grade II listed Mark Hall Cycle Museum was opened in April 1983 to display the John Collins Cycle collection, associated accessories, many nationally donated bicycles, and 45 Dunlop commissioned ceramic vignettes depicting amusing cycling activities. Collins was a fifth-generation local collector and wheelwright and became the curator of Harlow Cycle Museum after Harlow Council purchased this collection. John retired in 1992.

The Harlow Study Centre held the archival material relating to the development of the New Town. Its archive also joined the cycles and other collections in Harlow Museum in 2002.

The Museum experienced minor renovations and in 2012, under a new political administration, became one of the discretional services transferred to charities through Service Level Agreements. The museum became the responsibility of the education charity, Science Alive, rebranding it Harlow Museum and Walled Gardens. This relationship ended in January 2019, when the charity went into administration and the Museum returned to the Local authorities control.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: Not known

Licence: CC BY-NC

Items in the museum’s collections largely fall into these categories:

• Archaeological – From Passmores house, and subsequent field excavations up to 2022.
• Social History – an amalgamation of Passmores House collection and new gifts.
• Archival – derived primarily from collections held at the Harlow Study Centre with around 8000 photographs, historic maps, and drawings from early developments of the New Town. Newspapers from 1953 – 2020.
• John Collins Cycle collection (67 cycles), unique vignettes of 40 ceramic models of cycle events, lamps, and signs.
• Natural History – a reduced collection from Passmores house
• Textile and accessory collection.
• Education – a selection of curated items from across collections for handling and lending to/use by schools and/or other community groups
• Items may be further categorised within these headings.

Archaeology

The Museum’s archaeological collections are primarily derived from archaeological excavations carried out in Harlow. New phases of houses development in the town, including Church Langley, New Hall, and Gilden Park, as well as extensions of historical sites like the cemetery, brings new excavated material into the Museum annually.

Key collections within this category are excavations from the Romano-British settlement and post-Medieval ceramics, all will likely be further enhanced by continued housing developments.

The collection spans from pre-history to the post medieval period, although Saxon and early Medieval periods are not well represented.

Social History

Harlow Museum’s social history collections mostly fall within these categories:

• Local History (including textiles)
• Ethnographic
• Cycle
• Note: some of our social history items date to the 17th century, and earlier. Some of these items may have been excavated, so there is in some instances a cross over between archaeology and social history.

Most objects in the Social History collections have been acquired via public donation. The objects were in use in Harlow or typify objects in common use in the town, and are representative of the personal, social, domestic, trade and industrial development of the town and its inhabitants. This includes our textile collection.

The Museum possesses a very small collection of ethnographic material, the majority of which was collected by one Harlow resident during the 1940s in Northeast Africa.

The bicycle collection constitutes one of the museum’s key and unique collections almost entirely from John Collins, a local wheelwright cycle maker and collector. The collection represents the development of the bicycle, from the earliest hobby-horse in 1818 to popular bicycles of the 1980s.

Archival

The Museum’s library and archival collection extends over 8,000 photographs, 13,000 maps and plans, 4,000 books and substantial photographic slide, video, and audio collections. The archive is especially strong in information pertaining to the development of Harlow New Town.

Research is undertaken by members of the community, along with information regarding properties and collections of donated ephemera.

The collection also contains many of the archaeological excavation reports that have been carried out in the town. Natural History

Much of the natural history was previously deaccessioned due to poor condition of specimens. The remaining collection includes the Herbert Mace butterfly, moth and insect collection, Fossils, Geology specimens, and Taxidermy specimens. The collection is in varied condition. Some items are on display, others are under review. Education

The education collection is specifically for handling and lending to schools or community groups. It consists almost entirely of duplicate objects or replica items.

Photography

Photographic collections are held by Harlow Museum & Walled Gardens, and span from the late 19^th century to the present day; the bulk of collections are from the mid-20th century. Overall, they comprise a very significant visual record of the built environment and council activities which contributes significantly to regional photographic heritage.

Harlow Museum & Walled Gardens will collect photographs which add context to or complement objects already in its own collections as well as collecting photographs relating to the Harlow area (both contemporary and historic). Photographs which fall outside of this remit will be directed to another suitable repository, such as Epping Forest District Council or Essex Record Office.

The Essex Record Office is the primary repository of archives in Essex and collects material from across the county covering all historical periods to the present day and from all subject areas. Harlow Museum & Walled Garden will collect only archival material which adds context to or complements objects already in its own collections. Significant archival material, from single items to entire archives, will only be acquired in consultation with the Essex Record Office.

Audiovisual and Digital Material

The collection of audiovisual material is currently under review. Much of the analogue oral history collection has been transferred as of April 2023 to the Essex Records Office. Harlow Museum will hold digital copies of the material, depositing the originals with the ERO. Any future donations of audiovisual material will be considered with advice from the ERO, considering playback technology available to Harlow Museum and the Museum’s ability to store the material effectively.

Source: Collection development policy

Date:

Licence: CC BY-NC

The Harris’ collections originate in the libraries and collections developed by local institutions and individuals and bought by Preston Corporation during the 18th and early 19th centuries. These included the Literary and Philosophical Institution, ‘on the express condition and understanding that they should be utilised for public purposes’ and the Mechanics Institute, or Institute for the Diffusion of Knowledge, established in 1828.

Preston’s first public museum opened in the Literary and Philosophical Institution building in Cross Street in 1880, sharing the building with the free library and Shepherd collection of rare books. The museum displayed pictures, local archaeology, natural history specimens, numismatics, ethnology and historical curiosities.

In 1883 Richard Newsham bequeathed his collection of oils, watercolours and bronzes by mid-19th century British artists, which formed the basis of the Museum’s fine art collection.

These collections were transferred to the Harris Free Library, Museum & Art Gallery, which opened in 1893 following the bequest of local lawyer, Edmund Robert Harris, who died in 1877. The Museum commissioned artworks for the building, including paintings of ancient Egyptian landmarks for the upper balcony by John Somerscales, and a stained-glass window on an ancient Greek theme by Henry Holiday.

The Harris Endowment Fund bought geological and natural history specimens, local archaeology, numismatics, reference books, examples of the industrial arts, and reproductions of what were regarded as the finest examples of the art of the past. Further additions were made through grants from the South Kensington (Victoria & Albert) Museum and by private donation.

In the 1890s and early 1900s Preston Corporation actively collected contemporary art and ceramics, including annual purchases from the Royal Academy which continued until 1971 and two tapestries from Morris & Co from Burne-Jones designs. In 1911 Cedric Houghton left his important collection of British ceramics and enamels to the Museum with the express wish that it form the basis for later acquisitions.

Sidney Paviere was Curator and Art Director from 1926 to 1959 and he embarked on a deliberately controversial acquisitions policy to create a profile for the Harris and capture the attention of the people of Preston. His first acquisition was Nude by George Spencer Watson from the Royal Academy in 1927, and his wartime addition in 1944, Pauline in the Yellow Dress, remains the Harris’ most popular painting.

Paviere also began the systematic collection of costume and textiles, which had previously developed with small random donations. This collection has continued to grow through gifts and contains groups of interesting material relating to the Preston Guilds, local families and an unusual collection of local farm workers’ clothing. Horrockses Fashions items, made by a major local textile company, continue to be actively collected from individuals and by purchase.

The fine art collection has received works from the Contemporary Art Society since the 1920s, and has been added to by several notable bequests, such as the Haslam bequest of 19th and early 20th century watercolours in 1949.

The glass collection is based on the Dr Taylor bequest of 18th century drinking glasses in 1946, and added to by the acquisition of a large collection of scent bottles in 1964, and the purchase of the Seddon collection of coloured glassware in 1980.

The Library, Museum & Art Gallery continued as a single service until local government reorganisation in 1974, when Lancashire County Council took over the running of the Library. The original special library collections are still housed in the Harris under the care of Lancashire Archives, along with other books relating to, or originally part of, the museum collections.

The social history collection is based on the 1950s folk life collection of local and domestic bygones. From the 1960s the collection was developed to collect items associated with the cotton industry which was in rapid decline. History collecting was largely focused on the themes of the original museum, with additions of social and local history, stamps and photographs, built up through acquisitions from individuals and local clubs and societies, until the late 1990s. From the 1980s to early 2000s targeted ‘collecting exhibitions’, such as Preston Asia, brought items relating to Preston’s recent past into the collection.

From 1985 until the mid-1990s the gallery acquired works by contemporary British artists through a scheme funded by Preston Borough Council, the Contemporary Art Society and the Arts Council, with support from the V&A Museum.

In the late 1980s and 1990s, some rationalisation of the collections took place. In 1989, the Harris transferred its natural history and geology collections to Lancashire County Museums Service, where specialist curatorship was available. In 1992, military uniforms with no links to Preston were transferred to the specialist military collections at LCMS.

More recent collecting has included targeted activity, such as for the development of the Discover Preston gallery and representation of the 2012 Preston Guild. Grant-aided purchases include Richard Dadd’s Puck and the joint purchase with the National Portrait Gallery of Richard Arkwright by Joseph Wright, and funded projects, such as Collecting Cultures to develop the ceramics collection, and Current and Testing Media to acquire new media contemporary art.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2016

Licence: CC BY-NC

Paintings, photography and new media (800 items)

The Harris is recognised as having one of the strongest art collections in regional England. Mainly British in origin it includes works from the 18th century to the present day. 18th century work includes a George Romney, a portrait of Richard Arkwright by Joseph Wright, and a significant collection of works by the Devis family. This includes ‘conversation pieces’ by Preston-born artist Arthur Devis, portraits by Arthur William Devis, and landscapes by Anthony Devis.

The collection is particularly strong in 18th and 19th century landscapes, and paintings by Royal Academy exhibitors from the late 1890s to the early 1970s. There are also a number of paintings from the 1890s to the 1930s by artists of the Newlyn and St Ives schools, such as Julius Olsson, Laura and Harold Knight and Alfred Munnings, and important works by 20th century artists including Stanley Spencer, Lucian Freud and LS Lowry.

Works by contemporary British artists include Bruce McLean, Ian Mckeever, Maggi Hambling, and Ana Maria Pacheco. The modest but notable collection of mostly British contemporary photography and lens-based art includes Andy Goldsworthy and Helen Chadwick. Recent acquisitions include a collection of mixed media works by Mel Brimfield, and a major film commission, Ourhouse, Ep.-1: Time, 2016 by Nathaniel Mellors.

Works on Paper (6300 items)

Works on paper include 18th and 19th century landscape watercolours by British artists such as Samuel Palmer, JMW Turner, David Cox and William Holman Hunt plus animal studies by Charles Tunnicliffe and William Woodhouse. The collection is also rich in local landscapes and townscapes by Preston-based artists such as Edwin Beattie, and life and nature studies, classical, literary and religious themes. The most recent addition is a collection of drawings by 20th century artist and textile designer Alastair Morton.

Drawings include works by British and European artists from around 1400 to the present, and Old Master drawings from the 16th and 17th centuries. Themes include classical or religious subjects, fantasy, political or social comment, preparatory drawings for sculpture or architecture, portraits, genre and landscape or topographical subjects.

The print collection represents artists working in printmaking from the 16th century to the present day. This collection also includes satirical cartoons and Japanese wood-blocks. There is a small collection of printed books and artists’ sketchbooks, miniatures and silhouettes, and two examples of medieval manuscript illumination.

Sculpture (110 items)

The strength of the collection is the ‘New Sculpture’ bronzes dating from the 1880s to the 1920s, including works by Thornycroft and Gilbert, plus a bronze self-portrait bust by Jacob Epstein. There are also marble portrait busts by significant local sculptor, Thomas Duckett.

Themes include classical, literary, mythological and allegorical subjects, portrait busts of local dignitaries, copies of friezes from the Antique and Renaissance periods and memorial plaques (both integrated into the building).

Costume and Textiles (5,500 items)

The Harris has a strong collection of women’s clothing and accessories from the 1800s to 1950s. Highlights include a Spitalfields silk dress from the 1740s and the dress in the painting Pauline in the Yellow Dress. Other strengths include fashion plates, a small collection of designer wear from the 1960s to modern day, including Vivienne Westwood and David Fielden, men’s clothing and accessories including waistcoats from the 1790s to the 1880s, and rare examples of gentlemen’s clothing and servants’ livery from the early 1800s donated by the Hulton Family.

The collection also has examples of farming and working dress from 1880s-1950s, CC41 utility clothing and underwear, Quaker clothing and a quirky collection of fuzzy felt fashions associated with paintings in the collection.

Many garments have strong connections with Preston and were made or worn by local people. A significant collection of Horrockses Fashions dresses from the 1940s to the 1970s is complemented by material from the company’s design archive. There are also 1990s clothing and accessories from the South Asian community, and clothes associated with the Preston Guild.

The textile collection includes flat works such as embroidery, lace, quilts and printed cottons. Local firms are represented, but much of the collection reflects textile’s status as a popular personal and creative activity, as well as developments in recent textile art. Highlights include a fragment of Coptic textile from around 600, 17th century embroidery and samplers from the 1700s to 1800s. Quilts range from a military example from 1890s to the ‘Harris Quilt’ commissioned from Josephine Ratcliff in 1998. There are also 18 volumes of historic South Asian fabrics in The Textile Manufactures of India. An interesting collection of post 1950s artist-designed fabrics includes William Gear, Shirley Craven, Althea McNish and Hans J Holzer. Textile art includes examples by Ann Sutton, Junichi Arai and Liz Nilsson.

Ceramics (2,500 items)

The majority of the collection is British but there are sizeable groups of European, Japanese and Chinese ceramics, including stoneware and porcelain from the 900s to 1300s. The collection largely shows the development of British ceramics from the 1600s to the mid-1900s. Highlights include Wedgwood jasperware, Staffordshire figures and early English porcelain as well as examples of loving cups, posset pots, punch bowls, tea sets and dinner services. Commemorative pots have strong connections to Preston and include temperance ceramics and Preston Guild ceramics from 1822 to 2012. Collecting has recently focused on post-1900s studio and commercial ceramics with purchases of Bernard Leach, Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie and Clarice Cliff. Contemporary works include James Wood, Carol McNichol, Halima Cassell, Shigekazu Nagae and Natasha Daintry.

Glass (860 items)

This is largely made up of two large personal collections – 18th century drinking glasses donated by Dr Harry Taylor and coloured glassware acquired from Mrs Laura Seddon. The former includes Jacobite firing glasses and examples showing developments in design and rare multi coloured twist stems. The novelty ‘friggers’ – glass boats, shoes, ties, hats, rolling pins – are a fun part of the collection. Contemporary pieces include an important collection of Kalim Afzal’s work, and pieces by Angela Jarman and Ana Rosa Hopkins.

Mrs French Collection (7,915 items)

The Harris holds the largest public collection of scent bottles in Britain – the result of a lifetime’s collecting by Mrs Idonea French. The collection dates from the 1670s to the 1930s and its strength lies in its scale and range. Mrs French also collected visiting card cases, gaming counters, and shaped mineral samples.

Miscellaneous Decorative Art (604 items)

The Harris holds smaller miscellaneous collections such as a small clock and pocket watch collection that includes Preston makers. Chinese and Japanese items include theatrical masks and netsuke. There are also enamels, metalware and ivories.

Archaeology (2,953 items)

The Harris holds important local finds that provide a context for the development of Preston and wider human history, including the 13,500 year old Poulton elk skeleton and associated bone weapons that are the earliest evidence for human habitation in Lancashire. Other highlights include material from the Bronze Age Bleasdale timber circle, part of the Cuerdale Hoard, and human and animal skulls from the Preston Dock excavations. There are also international objects from local collectors, such as the John Weld collection of prehistoric stone and bronze tools from the North West, Ireland and Europe. Greek and Egyptian material was acquired as a result of the Harris’ contribution to the Egyptian Research Account.

Ethnography (253 items)

These are items from local collectors and explorers that include objects from North America, Oceania, Africa and Australasia. The largest donations are collections put together by the collectors John Weld and John Hyde, editor of National Geographic Magazine 1888-1900.

Social history (50,000 items)

This diverse collection contains objects and ephemera illustrating changes in life and work in Preston and Britain, and specialist collections of sheet music, greetings cards, cigarette and trading cards, dolls, toys and games and philately. Local industries with a national relevance include objects and ephemera from cotton manufacturer Horrockses, Crewdson & Company 1791-1960, the Stephen Simpson Gold Thread works, and Foster/Goss printers. Other items relate to the Guild and civic history of Preston. The Harris also undertook fieldwork to collect material relating to housing clearances and urban redevelopment.

Photograph collection (25,000 items)

The photograph collection contains historic prints of various types, film and glass negatives, slides and photograph albums. It is supported by related photographic equipment in the social history collection and postcards and is a significant regional collection. The earliest photographs date from 1846. Highlights include Charles Wilson’s photographs of Preston from 1850 to 1853 and Robert Pateson’s original albumen prints from the 1860s to the 1880s. Other photographs include cotton industry photographs commissioned by Horrockses, Crewdson & Company, photographs from the Preston Guilds from 1862 onwards, and Roger Fenton’s photographs of the Crimean War. The collection covers the work of Preston photographers, life and work in Preston and beyond, and the travel and interests of local people.

Numismatics collection (12,200 items)

The numismatic collection is a regionally important collection and significant to the overall history of the Harris and its development. It contains Roman and British coin hoards, individual coins from around the world, medals, tokens and paper money. Highlights include Roman coin hoards from Brindle, Worden, and parts of the Hackensall and Rossall hoards as well as part of the Cuerdale hoard of Viking, Anglo-Saxon and Frankish coins. The Prestwich hoard contains early English coins 871-926, the St Anne’s and Whittingham hoards, Tudor and Stuart coins and a large collection of Preston Guild medals.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2016

Licence: CC BY-NC

Biology

An extensive collection of over 260,000 specimens, one of the largest parts being the Mollusca, with representatives of all the major groups of British and foreign molluscs including freshwater, marine and terrestrial species. There is a collection of 3500 microscope slides and over 15,000 mounted birds, eggs, feathers and nests. Most British species are represented and there are a few foreign rare and extinct species notably birds of New Zealand. The collection of bone material is largely made up of foreign mammals, notably marsupials. The only complete skeletons are of small British mammals. This figure includes a collection of African animal bones. There is a small, assorted collection of British and foreign mammals (including game heads), reptiles and fishes (British freshwater and foreign marine) and invertebrates such as foreign corals along with echinoderms, spiders, scorpions, crabs and lobsters. Insects account for 75,000 specimens and present a complete collection of British butterflies and moths as well as comprehensive collections, including foreign examples of beetles and flies. The large botany collection contains an important herbarium, as well as seeds, nuts, galls, lichens, mosses and woods of British and foreign origin.

Geology

Geology totals around 30,000 specimens and includes The Sir Archibald Geikie collection of field notebooks, specimens, photographs, letter copybooks, water-colours and other memorabilia. Sir Archibald Geikie was Director of the British Geological Survey and the most eminent British geologist between 1880 and 1900. There are nearly 5,000 minerals, with examples of all the major mineral and crystal groups from British as well as foreign localities. The relatively small collection of rocks contains a wide variety of rock types, mostly British, but with a few examples from foreign localities. The fossil collection contains representative specimens of all the major animal and plant groups from each stratigraphic period. There are a few rare and unusual specimens.

Fine Art

This collection of over 11,000 works includes watercolours (mostly botanical), oils, prints and drawings by local artists and/or of local scenes as well as a named collection of English church brass rubbings.

Costume/Textiles

The collection of samplers, whitework, lace, costume, household and accessory items contains some very interesting items. It includes about 1000 items of European embroidery.

Ethnography

This small collection includes a mixture of artefacts from all continents. It includes our unique and important 19th century European Peasant Art collection of ceramic and wooden artefacts.

Social History

A mixed collection of over 9,000 domestic and agriculture items, including toys and games, objects of local significance, coins and medals and scientific instruments.

Archaeology

This large collection of over 23,000 items contains mostly British flints, including a named collection of local flints, but also examples of pottery, glass and metal work of Egyptian, Greek and Roman origin as well as pieces from other foreign localities. The locally important items of glass and iron making are classified under this subject.

Ancient Egyptian Collection

The museum holds 228 ancient Egyptian objects which are part of the Archaeology collection. Classes of objects represented in the collection include: amulets; canopic jars; ceramic figures; coffins; coins; faience figures; flints; food/plant material; funerary cone; jewellery; metal figures; animal remains (mummies); human remains (mummies); papyri; pottery; scarabs; shabtis; stone figures; textiles; toilet articles; tools/weapons; wooden figure (fragment); other. Objects are known to have come from the following locations in Egypt: Beni Hasan; Gizeh; Thebes.

Subjects

Ancient civilizations; Egyptian history; Antiquity; Archaeology; Egyptology

Photographic

This large collection (over 35,000 items) contains a significant number of local images including an important named collection of Haslemere buildings, events and people. It also contains an important record of the history of the Museum. The photographic media collection includes negatives, transparencies, lanternslides, cine and videotapes of a wide variety of subjects.

Archives

The Library holds books and works of reference dating from the sixteenth century to present day covering an enormous range of subjects, but particularly strong on local history. The Museum holds a number of scientific, archaeological and historical periodicals, all of an academic nature. There is also a large collection of assorted local, personal, regional and foreign items including diaries, letters, greetings cards, legal papers, property detail etc. The map collection includes local, regional, national and foreign maps of all sorts e.g. topographic, transport, land use and relief models.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

The current collection relates primarily to the Hastings fishing industry and community although there are some exhibits of a more general maritime nature. Additionally the museum also contains items relating to the original use of the building as the fishermen’s Church of St Nicholas and to its continued occasional use for religious services. There are several memorials to local fishermen who have lost their lives at sea, including a Book of Remembrance and an illuminated window. The largest and most important exhibit in the museum is the Hastings fishing lugger, built for sail, the “Enterprise”, RX 278, built in 1912 and laid up in 1954, which is situated in the middle of the old church.

Other exhibits include a horse capstan for pulling boats up the beach, ship’s instruments and fittings, lanterns, oil port and starboard lights, ship’s tackle such as chains, anchors, blocks and a dead eye, much of these trawled up by local fishermen, together with sailmaker’s and net maker’s tools and types of nets used locally.

The Museum has a good collection of models including a collection of half boat design models from a local boat builder.

The museum has a wide range of images from oil paintings to postcards and slides, those not on permanent display form the basis of regular changing exhibitions in the extension.

The Museum also has on show the tub and oar used by Biddy Stonham to entertain visitors to Hastings, a suit worn by the Winkle King made of shells, a 19th century smugglers barrel and clay pipes from the wreck of the “Amsterdam”. There are some natural history exhibits mainly from a 19th century collection, including the head and wings of an albatross from the South Pacific, a great white heron and a stuffed turtle.

The building itself is an exhibit and many of the original church fittings have survived, including pews, the font and several lecterns. There are also memorial plaques to local fishermen who lost their lives at sea and a Book of Remembrance, which is an important and ongoing service we offer to the fishing community.

A small number of exhibits are on loan to the Museum, primarily from the Hastings Museum and Art Gallery.

A catalogue of the museum’s exhibits was updated before the museum was accredited in 2010. Altogether there are over 5000 accessioned objects all of which have been recorded in digital form, with photographs on MODES.

A Register and two copies were also printed and bound on archival paper, containing all objects accessioned by the Museum from its inception in 1956.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

Ethnography

The bulk of the ethnographic collection of over 700 items was put together by the first Lady Brassey (1839-1887) in the 1870’s and 80’s and bequeathed to the Museum on the death of the 2nd Lord Brassey in 1918. The largest section is devoted to material from the Pacific and Melanesia, much of it collected at first hand on the Brassey’s voyage round the world in 1876. The collection includes an important royal feather cloak from Hawaii. The Brassey material also features items from the Middle East and the Balkans, Scandinavia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand, North and South America. The Museum’s ethnographic collections are housed in the Durbar Hall, the building in which they were originally displayed by the Brasseys at the end of the 19th century. This structure was built for the Indian and Colonial Exhibition of 1886, transferred to Lord Brassey’s home in Park Lane and finally re-erected as part of the Hastings Museum in 1930. There are a number of smaller ethnographic collections in particular the Ambrose Jones Collection of stone carvings from Costa Rica and the Cullen Collection of artefacts from the Cook Islands and New Guinea. The other important ethnographic collection is the Blackmore Collection of North American Indian Art, bequeathed to the Museum in 1982 and relating to the Plains Indians. It includes material acquired by local writer and sculptress Claire Sheriden, on her visit to America in 1937. Some new pieces have been added since 1982 including a fringed and beaded jacket and child’s “honouring” tipi. There is a growing collection of exhibits relating to the conservationist and Indian protagonist, Grey Owl, who was born and brought up in Hastings in the early years of the century.

Fine Art

There are over 2,000 fine artworks held by the museum predominantly a large collection of mainly topographical paintings, drawings, prints and photographs relating to the Hastings area and ranging in date from the late 18th century to the present day. There is also a small collection of 20th century British art and a few examples of works from the main European Schools. There are about a dozen examples of sculpture by artists associated with the Hastings area.

Decorative/Applied Art

The Ceramics collection is the largest and most significant of the Museum’s Applied Art collections. Exhibits range from the pottery of the Ancient Civilisations of the Mediterranean, America and the Orient to European Pottery and porcelain from the 17th to the 20th centuries. It includes rare pieces such as the Modena Dish and a large selection of locally made Sussex pottery. There is also a substantial collection of Oriental Art including Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Middle Eastern Ceramics, Japanese and South East Asian armour, Japanese lacquer, Indian and Middle Eastern metalwork and jewellery, Indian and South East Asian textiles, Buddhist and Hindu Sculpture, Indian and South East Asian woodcarving. The Museum also has a large number of Sussex firebacks ranging in date from the 16th to the 18th century. There is also an extensive collection of domestic and agricultural ironwork made locally. Smaller collections include English silver, of which there are approximately 70 items mostly of local significance and including early 18th century church plate on deposit from All Saints and St Clements Church, a few examples of English and continental pewter, English and continental glass (c.65 pieces) dating from the 17th to the 19th century, furniture and woodwork (c.12 pieces) and a representative collection of Tunbridge and Mauchlin ware, also a small collection of miniature furniture bequeathed to the Museum, c.40 cased verge watches mainly from the 18th century, 8 long case clocks predominantly by local makers and a small collection of brooches associated with the Royal St Leonards Archers.

Personalia

The Museum is developing significant collections relating to well-known local people, in particular items associated with the invention of television in the town in 1923 by John Logie Baird. The writer, Robert Tressell who based his book “The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists” on life in Edwardian Hastings is also represented by the archive of his biographer, Fred Ball. There is an important collection of over 100 architectural drawings and family ephemera relating to James and Decimus Burton, the architects of St Leonards. A special gallery is devoted to a growing number of exhibits that relate to the Hastings born conservationist and quasi American Indian, Grey Owl.

Costume/Textiles

The costume and textiles collection is large (>400 items) but miscellaneous and includes local smocks, 18th century waistcoats, 19th century women’s and children’s clothing, accessories, fans and parasols, clothing from World War II, lace, whitework and samplers. There is also a good collection of English, French and German dolls.

Maritime

Local and social history material includes items relating to fishing and boat building, smuggling, wrecks and the history of the Cinque Ports.

Agriculture

The collections contain around 200 items of agricultural equipment and artefacts within the local and social history collections. There is also an extensive collection of domestic and agricultural ironwork made locally in the decorative/applied art collection.

Geology

The Geology collection of over 2,500 specimens includes plant and animal fossils of the Wealden area, including the collections made locally by Teilhard de Chardin. Philip Rufford and Samuel Beckles. The Wealden plants in Rufford’s collection are particularly important, and include specimens described as the finest in the country. Hastings has long been a classic site for Iguanodon remains, and the Museum holds many bones of the dinosaur as well as footprints from the Cretaceous rocks at Fairlight and Galley Hill. Other animals of the period that are well represented in the collection are the fish Lepidotus Mantelli, the crocodile Goniophilis Crassidens, and the Hybodant shark species. There is also a small reserve collection of minerals from around the world.

Biology

The Natural History collections contain fish, mammals and particularly birds, mainly specimens obtained locally and including examples of the so-called “Hastings Rarities” (totalling over 5,000 specimens). There are some specimens from other parts of the country, collected to form a representative survey of British wildlife. There is also a small group of skulls, bones and skeletons of vertebrates from all around the world. Invertebrates, many found or caught locally, are represented by a small spirit collection of marine life, and collections of butterflies, moths and other insects in collector’s cabinets. There is also a small collection of shells, corals and sponges of both local and foreign origin.

Archaeology

The archaeological collection of over 11,000 items consists both of material from Hastings and the surrounding area and, to a lesser extent, material from other parts of the world. Most of the local items have been acquired by organised excavation, some by chance find. One of the largest single collections of material is from Pevensey Castle (Roman and Norman). Some of the major excavations which have taken place have been at Hastings Castle (Norman/Medieval), Beauport (Roman), Hastings Priory (Medieval), Winding Street, Hastings (Medieval), Phoenix Brewery, Hastings (Saxon-Medieval) and Winchelsea, (Medieval/Post-Medieval). Material from earlier periods is represented by large quantities of flints, including the work of J Moore within the Country Park at Fairlight (Mesolithic to Iron Age) and a collection of early Palaeolithic hand axes from the important North Kent site of Swanscombe. There is an important group of bronze items from the Bronze Age, discovered during building work at Marina, St Leonards. Greek and Roman pottery from all periods is well represented. There are smaller groups of Etruscan and Egyptian material, and a larger group, some 300 items, of pottery and glassware from Cyprus, part of the Brassey collection. There are a few pieces from pre-Columbian South America and a small number of flints from New Zealand, Florida, Sweden and Denmark.

Ancient Egyptian Collection

The museum holds 40 ancient Egyptian objects which are part of the Archaeology collection. The Egyptian material was mostly given in the early years of the 20th century. Classes of objects represented in the collection include: canopic jars; coffins (mask); flints; human remains (mummies); pottery; shabtis Objects (flints) are known to have come from the following location in Egypt: Fayum.

Subjects

Antiquities; Ancient civilizations; Antiquity; Archaeology; Egyptology

Numismatics

The collections comprise Roman coins, including the coin hoard found on the outskirts of Hastings in 1989 consisting of 53 silver denarii and 92 bronze coins dating from the 1st and 2nd centuries, an important collection of silver pennies from the Hastings Saxon Mint (approximately 6 examples) and other Sussex mints of the period such as Chichester, Lewes and Steyning, a large collection of local shop tokens (over 700) and other local trade tokens, gold, silver and base metal English coinage from the Medieval period to 1953, an album of Chinese cash, miscellaneous commemorative and civic medallions and a collection of approximately 200 campaign medals dating from the late 18th to early 20th century and including the George Cross awarded to local nurse, Dorothy Gardiner and the medals of Sir Henry Webster of Battle Abbey whose portrait hangs in the Museum.

Social History

The local and social history collection is the largest section of the Museum’s holdings. Most social history items are collected for their local associations and cover the fields of laundry, dairy, cooking, toys and games, theatre and entertainment, smoking, writing, education, law and order, fire-fighting, transport, church history (not including parish records which are required to be deposited in the County Record Office), agriculture, early electrical appliances, television and domestic items from the First and Second World Wars. Of more specific local interest are the collections relating to tourism, fishing and boat building, smuggling, wrecks, the Cinque Ports, the Bonfire Societies, Sussex Ironwork, gypsum, gunpowder, hops, commemorative and civic items, photographs, guide books, printed ephemera and architectural details from demolished buildings.

Photographic

The local and social history collection is the largest section of the Museum’s holdings. Most social history items are collected for their local associations and cover the fields of laundry, dairy, cooking, toys and games, theatre and entertainment, smoking, writing, education, law and order, fire-fighting, transport, church history (not including parish records which are required to be deposited in the County Record Office), agriculture, early electrical appliances, television and domestic items from the First and Second World Wars. Of more specific local interest are the collections relating to tourism, fishing and boat building, smuggling, wrecks, the Cinque Ports, the Bonfire Societies, Sussex Ironwork, gypsum, gunpowder, hops, commemorative and civic items, photographs, guide books, printed ephemera and architectural details from demolished buildings.

Archives

A collection of over 10,000 items that includes the town records (court books, chamberlains and pierwardens accounts and rentals) from the late 16th to 19th centuries, Hastings Priory charters dating from the 12-16th centuries, medieval documents relating to the Cinque Ports and charity land grants, large collections of property deeds and wills relating to Hastings and neighbouring villages from the 17th to 19th centuries, documents relating to local societies, 19th and 20th century rate books for the Borough of Hastings, 19th century lists of electors, the Borough records from the 1939-45 war, 2 Poor Law Examination books, a 19th century Marriage Notice book, Borough Health Officers’ reports from the late 19th and early 20th century, letters and a large collection of Hastings and Sussex maps. In addition the manorial rolls of Brede and Udimore dating back to the 13th century are held on deposit.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC