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Social History Collection

Many domestic activities are represented including cooking, cleaning and pastimes. A collection of dolls, toys and games especially the Trollope Doll’s House. A large selection of greetings cards records Valentines, Birthdays, Christmas, Easter, births and deaths of times gone by. Postcards reveal images of the town, or greetings sent to Harrogate from further afield. A selection of photographs illustrates buildings, street scenes, people and other aspects of the District, some of which are still with us, and some of which have disappeared. A selection of bicycles celebrates the founding of the Cyclists Touring Club in Harrogate, and many of these are on show in the Royal Pump Room Museum. The tandem tricycle is always popular with visitors, as is the Penny Farthing, dating from 1874. Local shops and trades are represented, such as saddlery linen manufacture, and the chemists so prevalent in the spa. Harrogate’s Park Drag, a Victorian four-in-hand coach built by the local firm of Mackay and Fowler, would have been an elegant sight on the roads in the area. Harrogate’s history as a spa town is reflected in much of the material in the museum collection, and we continue to acquire spa related items wherever possible. A Peat Bath from the Royal Baths is on show in the Royal Pump Room Museum. Made of Burma teak, the peat bath would hold 50 gallons of mineral peat, impregnated with iron and salts. A combination needle shower is on display alongside the peat bath. A description from 1910 describes the treatment: There are eight baths here altogether, four entered from the ladies corridor and four approached from the gentlemen’s corridor. A great saving of space has been effected by installing one needle bath between two bathrooms. These needle baths are not only refreshing in themselves, but achieve their purpose without in the least degree calling upon the patient to exert herself or himself. A Vichy Massage Bath, also on display in the Royal Pump Room Museum, is a wooden table upon which the bather reclined and was massaged, while streams of water poured down from an overhead shower. Other treatment related items in the collection consist of treatment beds, a stretcher and some fixtures and fittings from the Royal Baths.

Subjects

Social History

Costume and Textile Collection

The earliest examples are embroideries worked by the Copts in Egypt, 16th century bedspread, 17th century stump work showing Charles II and Queen Henrietta. Embroidery also on two men’s waistcoats from the 18th century. Samplers include some 18th century and work by young Victorian schoolgirls. There are pieces of Victorian patchwork and a collection, 100 pieces, of lace samples including some of Ripon lace The costume collection is mainly women’s clothes ranging from 1800 to 1970 and from delicate muslin dresses of the 19th century to a pair of leather hot pants, but the strength is Victorian. There is a large collection of underwear and accessories – corsets, bloomers, underskirts, stockings, hats, shoes and gloves. Men’s costume is small bu comparison, but ranges from the linen shirt worn by Sir Henry Slingsby at his execution in 1658 to a pair of platform soled two-toned shoes from the 1970’s.

Subjects

Costume and Textile

Decorative and Applied Art Collection

About 1200 items including the Holland Child collection of northern England, mainly Leeds creamware and 19th century ceramics, a few Rockingham pieces, from dinner plates to coffee services, desk accessories and puzzle jugs or frog mugs. Commemorative pottery includes a mug celebrating the life of Blind Jack Metcalf of Knaresborough and satirising Napoleon Bonaparte. The Pemrose May collection is 95 drinking glasses from the 18th and 19th centuries. Most of the jewellery was the gift of Mrs Anne Hull Grundy in the 1980’s, and contains costume jewellery from the late 18th to the early 20th century including , hair accessories, Victorian mourning jewellery, tiaras, silver hair brushes and pin boxes and some art nouveau brooches; about 50 metal pieces in total. Furniture 30 pieces from 17th to early 20th century; silver hair brushes and pin boxes from Hull Grundy Collection

Subjects

Decorative and Applied Arts

Ancient Egyptian Collection

The museum holds 700 ancient Egyptian objects. Classes of objects represented in the collection include: amulets; canopic jars; coffins (also cartonnage masks and mummy boards); flints; funerary cones; jewellery; metal figures; animal remains (mummies); papyrus; pottery; ‘Ptah-Sokar-Osiris’ figure; relief sculpture; scarabs; shabtis; stelae (stone); stone figures; stone vessels; textiles; tools/weapons; wooden figures; other. Objects are known to have come from the following locations in Egypt (with the name of the excavator/sponsor and year of excavation given where possible): Abydos (Garstang); Amarna (Petrie, 1891-1892); Oxyrhynchus (Petrie); Esna (Garstang and Jones – Liverpool University, 1905-1906).

Subjects

Antiquities; Ancient civilizations; Antiquity; Archaeological sites; Archaeological objects; Egyptology; Archaeological excavations

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

The Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture has a wide-ranging collection of art and associated objects that have been acquired since the academy’s foundation in 1826. This reflects both the life and work of the academy as an institution and its individual members as well as a broader view of Scottish art from c.1780 to the present day. This description of the current collections is divided into the following sub-sections:

1. Paintings and Drawings
2. Sculptures
3. Architectural Drawings, Models, etc
4. Prints,and Folios
5. Artist Books and Sketchbooks
6. Photography
7. Time-based media (sound, video, performance-based documentation)
8. Installation, Assemblage and Multi-part works
9. Associated Objects

Each will be described individually, and this is followed by a second breakdown of the collections according to acquisition method due to its highly specific nature in certain instances.

Paintings and Drawings

At the time of writing, the Paintings and Drawings collection of the Royal Scottish Academy numbers around 4,500 items.

With the exception of the 1,000+ David Laing Bequest Old Master drawings (currently on long term loan to the National Galleries of Scotland), this almost entirely consists of the work of Scottish artists or non-Scottish artists resident in Scotland. Within the parameter of Scottish material, the earliest pieces date from around 1780 and the most recent from the present day. Being an institutional collection the artists represented are primarily past and present members of the Academy. Additionally artists in receipt of RSA training, scholarships or awards (see APPENDIX I) are represented by examples of their work. Furthermore certain Scottish artists who were/are not members of the Royal Scottish Academy are also represented in the collections where their association with this institution (or certain of its members) is particularly strong. This final category is most relevant in the earliest period of the collection, ie. 1780-1826, which predates the foundation of the RSA. For example the large canvas, The Disobedient Prophet, by John Graham (1754-1817) and a cluster of works by David Allan (1744-1796) showcase the work of artists who were the teachers of the first generation of members of the Academy and thus serve to introduce a thread of connections through teaching, which is a significant aspect of the overall collection. The main collecting period, however, is from 1826 to the present day, ie. the lifetime of the Academy. A significant number of major Scottish artists are represented, some by individual iconic works, such as James Guthrie RSA (1859-1930) with Midsummer (1892), Samuel John Peploe RSA (1871-1935) with Boy Reading (c.1921) and Beth Fisher RSA (b.1944) with her important drawing, Burial II (2006). Other artists are represented by significant holdings, for example William Darling McKay RSA (1844-1924), John Duncan RSA (1866-1945), William Gillies RSA (1898-1973), James Cumming RSA (1922-1991), William Littlejohn RSA (1929-2006) and David Michie RSA (1928-2015). In many instances and especially in the case of the studio gifts of Gillies, Cumming, Littlejohn and Michie, groups of paintings are supported by extensive collections of sketchbooks, studies and preparatory sketches, and this is a particular strength of the RSA collections.

In addition to Scottish material there is a small group of paintings and drawings by non-Scots, and this covers the period from c.1600 to the present day. However, these maintain a direct association to the RSA as an institution or to one or more of its members. For example the full-size cartoon, St George, by Friedrich Overbeck (1789-1869) was gifted to the Academy by William B Johnstone RSA (1804-1868) in 1853, it coming from his personal collection. This drawing, an example of the work of one of the leading Nazarene painters, represents the influence of this German group of artists on Scottish work in the middle years of the nineteenth century.

In 2014 a major collection of Scottish drawings was returned to the Royal Scottish Academy from the National Galleries of Scotland. Including work by David Octavius Hill RSA (1802-1870), Thomas Duncan RSA (1807-1845), Montague Stanley ARSA (1809-1844), William Allan RSA (1782-1850), James Howe (1780-1836) and Francis Grose (1731-1791) this collection forms part of the David Laing HRSA (1793-1878) Bequest of drawings (1879). The return of this group from the bequest allowed the Royal Scottish Academy to formalise a new long-term loan agreement to the National Galleries of Scotland for the important collection of Old Master drawings that form the remainder of the Laing Bequest.

In 2017 the RSA – Edinburgh University Life School Transfer secured the return of twenty six paintings and drawings from the RSA’s Life School, which operated in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A group of some forty works from the RSA Life School had been left at Edinburgh College of Art from the school’s late tenancy there prior to its winding up in 1932. Following research and discussion with Edinburgh University, the collection was split, with the RSA taking the majority including work by Robert Brough ARSA (1872-1905), Samuel John Peploe RSA (1871-1935) and Sir James Lawton Wingate PPRSA (1846-1924). The transfer is yet to be completed, with other works expected in future.

A group of three significant portrait paintings by, David Allan (1744-1796), Robert Duddingstone Herdman ARSA (1863-1922) and James Norie Snr (1684-1757) are on long-term loan to the National Galleries of Scotland.

Sculptures

There are around 250 pieces in the RSA sculpture collection. The main body of work is by Scottish sculptors, working either at home or abroad. Being an institutional collection the sculptors represented are primarily past and present members of the Academy. The earliest acquisition (1831) is a marble bust of David Scott SA by John Steell RSA (1804-1891). Thereafter important individual works by significant Scottish sculptors including Samuel Joseph RSA (1791-1850), James Pittendrigh MacGillivray RSA (1856-1938), Alexander Carrick RSA (1882-1966), Benno Schotz RSA (1891-1984), Thomas Whalen RSA (1903-1975), Phyllis Bone RSA (1899-1972), Anne Henderson RSA (1921-76), Fred Bushe RSA (1931-2009), Marion Smith RSA (b.1969), Fiona Dean RSA (b.1962) and Annie Cattrell RSA (b.1962). Although many pieces are portrait busts, this collection contains a wide range of sculpture types from relief work to complex pieces in a range of media, and also abstract and constructed work. Subjects range from landscape-inspired work to classicising figures, from narrative-based pieces to animals. In 2017, the sculptor Kenny Hunter RSA (b.1962) was commissioned to sculpt a posthumous President’s Portrait of James Guthrie PPRSA. This filled a gap and brought up to date the existing collection of President’s Portraits, which includes work in two and three dimensions.

In addition the academy has acquired a few pieces by non-Scottish or non-Scottish based sculptors, yet with connections to the RSA through provenance for example Post equitem sedet altra cura by Sir Alfred Gilbert (1854-1934) and two animalier bronzes Antoine-Louis Barye (1796-1875).

In 2015 the RSA received a significant studio gift from the estate of the sculptor Keith Rand RSA (1956-2013). This was the first studio gift from a sculptor to enter the collections and contains large, medium and small scale sculpture, maquettes, sketchbooks, drawings and sketches, tools and equipment and a substantial archive. Like many of the artistic legacy gifts to the RSA, there is an ongoing relationship with the artist’s executors and material continued to be received up to 2019.

A group of five significant portrait busts by, William Brodie RSA (1815-81), John Hutchison RSA (1833-1910), George Anderson Lawson HRSA (1832-1904), Patric Park RSA (1811-55) and John Steell RSA (1804-91) are on long- term loan to the National Galleries of Scotland.

Architectural Drawings, Models, etc

There are around 100 items in this category, split between architectural drawings, models and presentational assemblages of photographs and/or computer-generated images. The raison d’être behind this collection is to present excellent examples of architectural practice by Scottish architects and, being an institutional collection the figures represented are primarily past and present members of the Academy. The earliest acquisitions (1831) are drawings of Edinburgh buildings by William Henry Playfair RSA (1789-1857) and Thomas Hamilton RSA (1784-1858). Thereafter architectural practice is represented through the nineteenth century to the present day and includes such significant names as David Bryce RSA (1803-1876), Robert Stodart Lorimer RSA (1864-1929), James Miller RSA (1860-1947), Isi Metzstein RSA (b.1928), James Morris RSA (1931-2006) and Robert Steedman RSA (b.1929), Richard Murphy RSA (b.1955), Neil Gillespie RSA (b.1954), and Kathryn Findlay RSA (1953-2014). Although most constructions represented are Scottish, this is not universally so, for example Joseph Gleave RSA, Sketches for a Proposed Monument to Columbus (c.1930-1959) and Kathryn Findlay RSA, Model for Art Foundation, Qatar (2011)

In 2014 the RSA received a Diploma Work from John McAslan RSA (b.1954), which documents the design and construction of his major project at King’s Cross Station in London. The work consists of an architectural model, framed presentation drawing and a photographic, digital and library archive detailing plans and stages of construction. It is the first architectural Diploma Work to be presented as a project archive. The following year, the Diploma Work of Neil Gillespie, Pier Arts Centre, also broke new architectural ground with its inclusion of Gillespie’s own ideas sketchbook with the concept model for the project

In 2015 the RSA received an important gift from the estate of Peter Womersley ARSA (1923-1993). The first architectural studio gift to enter the collections, it contains plans, drawings, photographs and an archive that spans Womersley’s career.

Prints and Folios

The Academy’s print collection numbers around 2,500 items. This covers a very broad range: in date terms it extends from c.1650 to the present day; and in nationality terms it includes Scottish, British and foreign work. It may be broken down into the following categories

1. Scottish work representing the best art printmaking practice from c.1780 to the present day. For example this includes historically important etchings by Alexander Runciman (1736-1785) and John Kay (1742-1826). Significant current printmaking work is represented by both specialist artist-printmakers such as Willie Rodger RSA (b.1930), Frances Walker RSA (b.1930), Phillip Reeves RSA (b.1931), John MacKechnie RSA (b.1949) and Elspeth Lamb RSA (b.1951), emerging artist-printmakers, such as Ibraheem Adeyemi Adesina (b. 1980) and also by artists working in collaboration with artists’ printers, for example Elizabeth Blackadder RSA (b.1931) and Ian McCulloch RSA (b.1935).

In 2017 a major studio gift was received from the printmaker Philip Reeves RSA. Some forty of the artist’s collages and the full catalogue of prints held by the artist at his death have been accessioned into the collections. The gift also contains sketchbooks, artist equipment and an archive. From one major Scottish printmaker to another, this was followed up by a significant gift from the estate of Willie Rodger RSA in 2020. Alongside Beth Fisher RSA Rodger was the first Academician to be elected as a printmaker in 1989.

1. British prints c.1750-1930, particularly engravings and mezzotints executed as copies of original paintings, also similar etchings and chromolithographs. These were acquired primarily as a reference and teaching collection (see APPENDIX I). Additionally a small number of British (ie non-Scottish) prints by specialist practitioners such as Frank Brangwyn HRSA (1867-1956).
2. Non-British prints of all periods and from anywhere in the world, This category appears random but it represents items collected by individual Scottish artists as part of their personal and professional development and can be identified as informing their work. For example a collection of figure studies by Aristide Maillol (1861-1944) acquired by William Gillies RSA.
3. Print folios, in both bound and unbound format connect collections to library holdings. Important publications by the likes of Robert Bryden cross between these areas and the collections include folios by David WIlkie HRSA and Frank Brangwyn HRSA (1867-1956) amongst others. Recent acquisitions, such as A Night of Islands by Will Maclean RSA mark a renewed interest in filling gaps in the collections of important folios from the latter half of the twentieth century to balance the strength of the nineteenth and early twentieth century print holdings.

Artist Books and Sketchbooks

1. Contemporary artist Books is a recently resurging category and currently numbers around 20 items. Pieces range from those by living members, eg Crossing to Finlaggan (2003) by Frances Walker RSA (b.1930) and works by young artists in receipt of RSA administered scholarships and awards, such as Geri Loup Nolan (b. 1961). This category represents a contemporary return to an area of considerable quality and depth established during the development of the RSA library in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. During this period rare publications and volumes containing original print works and artworks, by the likes of John Baptist Jackson (1701-73), Patrick Syme RSA (1774-1845), David Scott RSA (1806-49), Kenneth Macleay RSA (1802-78), David Octavius Hill RSA (1802-70) among many others, were acquired through gift and purchase. This category crosses over with prints and folios at 2.4 and signals a revisiting of themes and material from the Royal Scottish Academy’s collecting history.
2. Sketchbooks are a key component of the collections and define an area of particular strength in revealing artist practice from behind the façade of the finished artwork. The collections hold sketchbooks from nineteenth century artists including David Allan (1744-96), Robert McGregor RSA (1847-1922), Patrick Gibson RSA (1782-1829), Samuel Bough RSA (1822-78) and Arthur Perigal RSA (1816-84), and into the twentieth century with William Crozier ARSA (1897-1930), John Duncan RSA (1866-1945) and Michael Docherty RSA (b.1947). The Crozier sketchbooks entered the collections with the William Gillies RSA bequest in 1973 with sketchbooks by Gillies himself, and the majority of sketchbooks in the collections have been accessioned as part of the major studio gifts that have been received since this point. Groups of sketchbooks by James Miller RSA [4], James Cumming RSA (1922-91) [12], Fred Bushe RSA (1931-2009) [4], William Littlejohn RSA (1929-2006) [35], Keith Rand RSA (1956-2013) [107], David Michie RSA (1928-2015) [130] and Philip Reeves RSA (1931-2017) [29] have been received as part of studio gifts.

Photography

This section falls into two categories, 1) Art photographs, and 2) Documentary photographs

1. Art photographs, produced solely or primarily for aesthetic ends, number around 400 in the Academy’s collection and they fall into two main groups: very early and recent.

In 1852 the RSA launched a Photographic Department and began an active phase of acquisition which lasted until around 1860. As a result there are important examples of the work of Scottish and French photographers who were active in this period, such as the Hill & Adamson Partnership (1842-48), Dr Thomas Keith (1827-1895), John Stewart of Pau (1814-1887), Gustave Le Gray (1820-1887) and Charles Nègre (1802-1880).

Collecting art photography resumed at the end of the twentieth century, the “recent” section, with significant work such as Venus Anadyomene (1998) by Calum Colvin RSA (b.1961) and photographs from The River Forth Series, which form Thomas Joshua Cooper RSA’s (b.1946) Diploma Work. Recent growth in this category has come predominantly from artists in receipt of Scholarships, Awards or Residencies and includes work by Philip Braham (b.1959), Alicia Bruce (b.1979), James Dixon (b. 1980) and Alex Boyd (b. 1984).

2. Documentary photographs number around 1,800 in the academy’s collection and these date from c.1853/4 (collection of artists portraits by James Good Tunny, 1820-1887) to the present day. The items in this section record the history of the RSA as an institution, Scottish artists and artist life, and also working studio practice by Scottish artists. For example there are photographs and negatives of RSA annual exhibitions from as early as 1860, photographs of the RSA Life School from the 1880s and 1890s, research photographs taken by working artists, eg William Gillies RSA’s photographs of the Highlands taken in the 1930s and similar ones taken by Ian Fleming RSA (1906-1994) of harbours in North East Scotland in the 1950s and 1960s. In addition to those by William Gillies, the studio gifts of Keith Rand RSA and David Michie RSA contain much documentary photography.

Time-based Media

This is a small but growing category and items represent diverse contemporary practice. It covers recorded sound, video and performance-based documentation by Scottish artists or artists working in Scotland, eg. Leena Nammari’s film everyanysomenowhere (b.1970, recipient of the Morton Award 2007), Paul Rooney’s film Kendal Iconoclasm (b.1967, recipient of the Morton Award 2011), Katri Walker’s film Rapture (b.1978, recipient of an RSA Residency for Scotland, 2011), Sylvia Law’s sound pieces Florence: Site Recordings and Florence: My Recordings (b.1990, recipient of the RSA John Kinross Scholarship, 2012) and Rachael Bibby’s film Reflect (b. 1985, created in response to the collections works in RSA exhibition Ego, 2013)

Installation, Assemblage and Multi-part works

This is a small but growing category and items represent diverse contemporary artistic practice. It covers works that have multiple components and some that contain a variety of different object types. It includes work by Michael Docherty RSA (b. 1947), Edward Summerton RSA (b. 1962), Tracy Mackenna RSA (b. 1963) and Edwin Janssen and Mina Heydari-Waite (b.1990)

In 2016 the first multi-media Diploma Work was received, with the deposit of Follower by Derrick Guild RSA (b.1963), which comprises a painting, a photograph and a filmed performance.

Associated Objects

This broad category breaks down into the following: 1) institutional memorabilia and personalia, 2) artists’ equipment and materials, 3) inspirational objects.

1. Institutional memorabilia and personalia cover a mixed collection of around 160 items memorialising the academy and certain of its constituent members. The earliest items predate the Academy but retain a connection through the educational role of this institution, these being David Allan’s medals from the Academy of St Luke in Rome (1773). However in general the items represented in this category date from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present day and include: RSA medals belonging to past members, drinking glasses belonging to an artists’ club (The Smashers Club), a walking stick belonging to Samuel Bough RSA (1822-1878) and a silver cigar box memorialising Robert Lorimer RSA (1864-1929).
2. Artists’ equipment and materials (otherwise defined as “studio” collections) comprise a mixed collection of around 200 items dating from the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries. These items being the working tools of Scottish artists who have been members of the academy or otherwise associated with it and they range from an easel belonging to Sir James Guthrie RSA (1959-1930), to a paint-laden palette that belonged to Sir William MacTaggart RSA (1903-1981), to oriental paint brushes and stamps used by William Littlejohn RSA (1929-2006) and the hand-made wood carving tools made by Keith Rand RSA (1956-2013).
3. Inspirational objects number some 200 items and all have belonged to Scottish artists who have been members of the Academy or otherwise associated with it. Most of the items date from the nineteenth century onwards but may come from anywhere in the world. For example in this category are a collection of cut glass decanters and stoppers used by James Cumming RSA (1922-1991) in his exploration of still life compositions, and there are pots made by Emma Gillies and used by her brother, William Gillies RSA (1898-1973), in his paintings. More inspirational objects have entered the collections via the studio gifts detailed in this document.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2020

Licence: CC BY-NC

The Royal Welch Fusiliers Regimental Museum, a registered charity, was established by members of the Regiment with the purpose of continuing the gathering, holding together, and displaying a collection of Regimental artefacts and to promote the traditions and perpetuate the deeds of the Royal Welch Fusiliers to the wider public. The Royal Welch Fusiliers Regimental Museum has been in existence in some form or another, for over 100 years. In 2023 the RWF Museum’s Board of Trust renamed the charity the ‘ROYAL WELCH FUSILIERS REGIMENTAL MUSEUM TRUST Ltd’.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collection reflects the human, social and military history of The Royal Welch Fusiliers (also known as the 23rd Regiment of Foot or RWF) from 1689 until 2006, including the associated Militia, Volunteer and Yeomanry units of the counties of North Wales and Mid-Wales and its successors. The collection of approximately 20,000 objects includes paintings, prints, photographs, weapons, military uniforms and equipment, ordnance, ephemera from past campaigns, sporting memorabilia, gallantry and campaign medals, including a number of Victoria Crosses. The archives include books, maps, official and personal documents and diaries. Of international importance is the museum’s collection relating to art & literature of the Great War, including Robert Graves, Siegfried Sassoon, David Jones, Hedd Wyn, Dr JC Dunn and Richard Lunt Roberts.

The Trust has also invested heavily in digitisation, allowing greater public access via the internet. Approximately 96,000 enlistment documents have been digitised in partnership with Find My Past. In 2023 the Trust digitised over 1000 artworks in partnership with Art UK, available to be viewed by the public for free. The Royal Welch Fusiliers Regimental Museum Trust Ltd has also partnered with The Army Museums Ogilby Trust through The Ogilby Muster project and has more than 1000 images dated 1899-1930, available to view online.

The period covered starts with the raising of the Regiment in 1689 until the present day. Geographically it covers the conflicts involving the Regiment and the peacetime locations worldwide, where it has been stationed. It also includes Wales from whence the Regiment has drawn a high percentage of its recruits.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

In the early days of the RWA and its predecessor, The Bristol Academy for the Promotion of the Fine Arts (as it was known from 1844 to 1913), a collection of works of art was formed of members’ work and items donated to the Academy. The core of the collection at this time was founded with works left in trust by Mrs Ellen Sharples, and further works were purchased with her bequest in 1849.

In 1910, the then President, Lord Winterstoke, founded the building of the Bristol Municipal Art Gallery and arranged to transfer the RWA’s historical collections (including portraits known as the Sharples Collection – of American as well as Bristol interest) to the Art Gallery on a long- term loan. In 1931, by mutual agreement, the Bristol City Art Gallery purchased this loan collection from the Academy. Since then most works purchased by the RWA for its permanent collection have been funded by the Mrs Augusta Talboys Bequest of 1947 (known as ‘The Talboys Bequest’) and usually acquired from RWA exhibitions. The Talboys Bequest is a registered subsidiary charity of the RWA Main Charity (registered number 1070163-1) and as such is separate and legally distinct from the RWA Main Charity (Direction dated 13 April 2007 issued by the Charity Commission under Section 96 of the Charities Act 1993).

Under the terms of Mrs Talboys’ Will dated 30 April 1918 and amended by a codicil dated 29 May 1924, she bequeathed a large endowment to the Trustees of the RWA upon trust to apply the income in the purchase of works of Bristol artists who were members or associates of the Academy selected by the President and Artists’ Chairman from the works from time to time exhibited at exhibitions of the RWA. Some years later, the Academy was advised by the Charity Commissioners that there were legal difficulties in the definition of ‘Bristol Artists’ and that henceforth the Trustees of the RWA could purchase works with income from the Talboys Bequest by any artist (Academician) member of the Academy whether from Bristol or not selected by the President and the Artist’s Chairman for the time being from exhibitions of the RWA. The works were purchased on the understanding that they would thereafter belong to the Academy with power to lend, exchange or sell any of them (the proceeds of sale to be added to the endowment or to be applied in repairs or additions to the RWA building or for any other purpose in carrying out the work of the RWA).

In 1998 the present registered company and charity, the RWA, was established and by two further Schemes both dated 1 July 1998 the Charity Commission ordered that the RWA Main Charity would henceforth be the trustee of the Talboys Bequest and the 1844 Charity.

Since 1998, the ownership of the RWA’s permanent collection has resided partly with the RWA Main Charity and the partly with the 1844 Charity. The remaining works of art originally bequeathed by Mrs Ellen Sharples (see below) in the collection remained in the ownership of the 1844 Charity. The main body of the collection was transferred to the RWA Main Charity.

In 2009, the RWA underwent significant governance changes to enable the RWA Main Charity to address more effectively the management and financial challenges which the RWA faces as an independent arts organisation. A modern charitable trust board (‘the Board’), whose members also became the members of the incorporated company constituting the RWA Main Charity, took the place of the Academicians’ Council as the governing body of the RWA. In adopting these changes the RWA returned to the spirit of its founding arrangements in terms of accepting governance by a body of all the talents including business and professional people as well as artists and arts professionals. The duties of the Board include focusing on the interests of audiences and placing the RWA on a sustainable basis for the longer term.

The members of the Board are accordingly also the charity Trustees of the 1844 Charity and the Talboys Bequest, and as such are the legal owners and guardians of the collection.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2022

Licence: CC BY-NC

The RWA’s permanent collection comprises over 1800 works of art, the majority being paintings alongside drawings, prints, sculpture, archives, artefacts and architectural models. The collection comprises fine examples of portraiture, landscapes, still life, abstract and figurative work by predominantly South West artists.

Within the collection, a small but significant group of 19th Century work relates to the period of RWA’s establishment acquired by virtue of the Sharples bequest in 1849.

The most substantial group comprises around 900 works bought since 1941 through the Talboys Bequest. These include significant works by major 20th Century artists such as Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, Dod Procter, Gilbert Spencer, Carel Weight, Mary Fedden, Ann Redpath and Julian Trevelyan. This is an unrivalled body of work by a range of artists with close connections with Bristol and the West of England post-1941 and includes paintings, drawings, prints and sculpture.

A requirement that all new RWA members must donate a diploma work to the collection adds a continuing contemporary element to the collection.

Following HLF investment in 2012, the collection is housed in a dedicated store with rolling racking and stable environmental conditions. Preventive and remedial conservation work has been undertaken on a number of works in the collection and a rolling programme of further work is planned, subject to funding.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2022

Licence: CC BY-NC

Archaeology

Collections include local material from the Stone Age to the Anglo-Saxons, with some medieval artefacts. The collections mainly relate to Therfield Heathe, Kelshall and Littlington, excavated in the nineteenth century by Nunn and Phillips.

Local and Social History

The collections include an example of the first catalytic converter, which was made in Royston; The social history collections cover mainly the Victorian and Edwardian periods, with some more recent 20th century material. They include domestic equipment, children’s toys and games, items relating to schooling and the impact of two World Wars on the town, and to the trades, occupations and social life. There is a small collection of souvenirs and memorabilia associated with local events and celebrations. A collection of local postmarks and local postal history. The photographic collection includes original and copy images of Royston and the surrounding villages, mainly from 11865-1914.;There is a small ephemera collection, which includes programmes from local dramatic and musical societies, agricultural and other shows and church activities. There is a collection of newspaper cuttings and copies of the Royston Crow from 1855 to 1979.;The museum has a collection of costume from the 19th and 20th centuries. The Royston Tapestry is a long embroidery, begun in 1992, which is being sewn in the museum by volunteers. It is designed to enhance the museum collections and depicts important events in the history of the town and district.

Fine Art

The museum holds a collection of works by local artists and featuring local scenes, in particular by E H Whydale, and by Harry Thurnall. An excellent and representative collection of works by E H Whydale including oils, watercolours, pencil sketches etchings, engravings and prints, many of local scenes, and about 100 etchings, lithographs and plates from his own personal collection donated by one of his students. Fifteen sketches by local artist and journalist Harry Thurnall, including the original oil sketches for his etchings shown in his illustrations for Kingston’s History of Royston and in ‘Winter Recreations in the Time of Queen Anne’.

Decorative Art

The museum displays a fine collection of late 19th century and early 20th century ceramics and glass, mainly from the Arts and Crafts movement, which is on loan from the Keatley Foundation. Artists represented include William de Morgan, the Martin Brothers, Moorcroft Pottery, Lucy Rie, and Clarice Cliff. Also on display is a splendid charger specially commissioned from Laurence McGowan to celebrate the Millennium.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

Visual Arts

Rugby Collection

The Rugby Collection of 20^th and 21^st century British art is made up of a variety of paintings, prints, drawings, photography and film works that have been purchased and collected by Rugby Borough Council since 1946. The founding principle of the collection intended that: “The collection will grow each year…the net will be cast wide, policy being limited only by funds available. Rugby will never be able to acquire works of the masters by purchase, but the committee will try to build up a lively and interesting collection of works of artists of promise and renown”. The collection was developed with the support and input of art advisors, industry experts who made recommendations for purchases and helped with finding funding. Eric Newton, art historian and critic for the Manchester Guardian and the Sunday Times was the first to advise Rugby from 1945 – 1964. Joanna Drew, who held several key positions in the Arts Council of Great Britain, succeeded Eric Newton in 1965 and supported the collection until 1974. The curator Monika Kinley joined Rugby in 1974 and stayed as art advisor until 1982. Throughout the 1980s and 90s active collecting slowed down with the reduction of purchasing budgets. During this period the collection moved temporarily to the University of Warwick where it was cared for and exhibited by the Mead Gallery. From 1988 – 1995 Contemporary Art Society (CAS) acted as art advisors for the collection. The opening of Rugby Art Gallery and Museum in 2000 saw a new acquisition budget established and collecting has continued ever since. Experienced visual art staff at the art gallery now act as art advisors for purchases. The collection offers a unique view of this period of British art through the eyes of the series of experienced art advisors who supported the acquisition process on a regular basis since 1946. Throughout the life of the collection it has benefitted from regular gifts from the Contemporary Art Society through its membership scheme. Many of the significant works in the collection are CAS gifts including works by Bridget Riley, Ceri Richards, Louis Le Brocquy, Barbara Hepworth and Gillian Wearing.

Local Collection

The local art collection is a small collection of works of art produced by local artists, which was acquired by the Borough Council from 1979 to 2003.

Topographical Collection

This collection, which dates largely from the mid-19^th century onwards, includes mainly drawings, paintings and prints, which depict local scenes and people. Most were created by local artists including Edwin Brown and Gertrude Hayes.

Archaeology

The archaeology collection is dominated by the Tripontium collection, which was excavated by members of Rugby Archaeological Society over a forty-year period from the Roman site located 5 miles from Rugby along the original Watling Street. This collection is divided into two specific collections. The first part is a collection of significant finds, which is on loan to Rugby Art Gallery and Museum for the purpose of display and was a key part of the museum’s development when first opened in 2000. The second part is the bulk finds which were donated to the permanent collection and is largely in storage. Prior to moving to Rugby Art Gallery and Museum in 2000 the collection was housed at Warwickshire County Museum.

In 2008 Rugby Art Gallery and Museum became an established archaeological depository for excavated material.

Social History

The collection’s origins date from the late nineteenth century when the old Rugby Library was given to the town in 1890 by Richard H Wood and a museum collection was set up alongside the library collection. A small part of the collection dates from this time.

The social history collection aims to document the social and economic history of the borough of Rugby. It has been formally collected since 1999 and comprises of material evidence and associated information relating to the history of the borough of Rugby and of the people who have lived and worked here in the past and present.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2022

Licence: CC BY-NC

Rugby Collection

The collection is now made up of 224 works, all of which were created by nationally known artists. It is an eclectic mixture of styles and mediums including painting, print, photography and film. The Rugby collection contains important works by many significant artists of the 20^th century such as Lowry, Hepworth, Sutherland, Spencer etc and many important contemporary works by artists such as Lubaina Himid, Claudette Johnson and Gillian Wearing.

Local Collection

The Local collection is of mixed media, which includes watercolours, oils, pastels, prints, acrylics and ceramics. Active collecting was ceased in December 2003 in order to redirect funds to support local artists in an alternative way through the annual Rugby Open exhibition.

Topographical Collection

Many works in the Topographical collection were acquired from the original Rugby Library, which had collected them as part of their ‘museum’ collection.

Archaeology

The Tripontium collection includes approx. 37,0000 Roman ceramics, metalwork, bone work, animal bones, human remains, and a very small amount of leather and textile. Key pieces from the collection include a peacock belt buckle, a lead ingot and locally made Roman tiles inscribed with the Latin alphabet and the Corieltauvi tribe dating from the 3^rd century. The Tripontium archaeological archive is not held by Rugby Art Gallery and Museum but remains with Rugby Archaeological Society.

The museum continues to be an archaeological depository for excavated material currently totalling 60 archives.

Social History

The majority of the collection dates from the 20^th century although there is a small Victorian collection dating from the time of the founding of the library. The collection consists of approximately 50,000 objects, which fall within the four SHIC categories of:

• Community life – includes education, health, entertainment, sport, community organisations.
• Personal Life – includes clothing, shoes and costume accessories, personal correspondence, keepsakes and photographs.
• Domestic and Family Life – includes items related to the home and living environment such as kitchen and laundry, toys and games.
• Working Life – including objects used for or created in a working environment and the local industries such as the railway and electrical engineering industries including Willans & Robinson, English Electric, British Thomson-Houston (BTH), AEI and GEC. Includes tools, patents, certificates, products, receipts, advertising and oral histories.

There are key photographic collections including:

• Redding’s photographic studio collection of glass plates and cellulose acetate negatives dating from 1958-1972 and featuring family, community and working life in the town and surrounding area.
• Projector slides from BTH lighting department (Mazda Lamps) dating from 1940s.
• BTH publicity department glass plate negatives.

There is a reference collection alongside the social history collection with books, local publications and accompanying reference material.

The museum also holds a small collection of born digital objects consisting of images and oral history recordings.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2022

Licence: CC BY-NC

Social History

The buildings acquired by the museum include a prefab, Anderson shelter, 1860s timber chapel, WWI barrack room (the Museum’s hall) and 1883 timber cricket pavilion. The Museum also collects associated material to be used in the interpretation of these structures. Themes include local transport and local village life.

Science and Industry

Crafts, trades and professions are represented through a range of items including a Wood-turners workshop, Wheelwright’s shop, tools of the thatcher, broomsquire and cooper, tools of the cobbler, a machine shop and engines, gantry crane (foundry), tools of the carpenter, carts, plumbing equipment, grocery items, enamel signs, scales and butcher, baker, dairy, tailoring, haberdasher and chemist shops.

Agriculture

The agricultural collections include horse drawn vehicles and implements, heavy horse harness and equipment, seed drills, ploughs, hand tools, traps and trapping, scales, hops, haymaking and harvesting, drainage, beekeeping, poultry husbandry, corn grinding machinery, reapers. granary and grain handling display. Shepherds hut and shepherding implements. Victorian stables. Horticulture – gardening tools, mowers and other grass tending implements. Market gardening machinery and other equipment. Tree and bush bundlers. Forestry – Horse drawn timber nibs etc., hand tools, Moss edge tools, saws and saw sets, machinery.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

The Society was formed in 1976 by a small group of local enthusiasts. The museum is housed in the station building of the former Rushden railway station, which was acquired by the Society in 1984. It forms part of the station site with adjacent buildings and railway track, which is the setting for the Society’s historic vehicles and trains. Regular themed weekend events and heritage train rides are held throughout the year, which display the heritage that the Society aims to promote.

The collection has developed through finds by Society members, gifts and loans and for many years the museum was managed by the former curator, Peter Horn. Since 2013 it has been run by a Museum Management Group, made up of volunteers from the Society, and a Museum Mentor was appointed in 2014. The museum is now more focused on the history of road and rail transport relating to the local area and its role in the surrounding community.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

The restored Victorian station building, in which the collection is displayed, and the other buildings, trains and vehicles on the site are of significant historical interest and retain a number of period features and fittings.

The Society’s museum collection includes a range of smaller artefacts kept in the rooms of the former Rushden Station, now referred to as the Museum. The current collection includes a considerable quantity of unprovenanced generic material, some of which has been used as set dressing and is not regarded as part of the collection that it is our intention to preserve for future generations. The Society also holds a number of road and rail vehicles that are held as part of its operating collection and are not managed as a part of the museum collection.

The artefacts in the museum collection are roughly grouped by types of transport, the largest group being those associated with railways and in particular with the branch line that Rushden Station served. The other main group relates to road transport, again with some reference to the local area. Theoretically all these items should have a direct relationship to the Rushden area although this is not always the case. The material in the collections dates to the 20th century.

The artefacts, which are estimated to total c.1000 items, include:-

• Railway Collection – Advertising posters, noticeboards, signs, luggage, trolleys, uniforms, photographs, track tools and equipment, maps, lamps, timetables, tickets, memorabilia
• Road Transport Collection – The Rushden Ashford Litter, Lightstrung bicycles, motorcycles, signs, badges, tickets, memorabilia
• Sundry/Generic Collection – Vending machines, oil lamps,

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

Personalia Collection

The Library holds a number of objects owned by Ruskin and his family, commemorative material and other items of Ruskin memorabilia.

Subjects

Personalia

Fine Art Collection

The collection comprises nearly 1,500 drawings, watercolours and oil paintings by Ruskin and his friends and associates including Samuel Prout, Francesca Alexander and Albert Goodwin. The predominant theme is landscape and architecture, reflecting Ruskin’s own tastes, and there are also nature studies, copies of Old Master paintings, and portraits, plus a collection of prints.

Subjects

Fine Art

Photographic Collection

There is a large collection of around 1500 photographs, some from Ruskin’s own collection, 225 glass negatives and an important group of 125 daguerreotypes made under his direction and mainly featuring Gothic architecture.

Subjects

Photography

Archives Collection

The Whitehouse Collection includes nearly 8000 mostly unpublished letters, including correspondence with his cousin Joan Severn (of 3000 letters), other family members and also associates such as Thomas Carlyle, Robert Browning and his publisher George Allen. The 305 manuscripts and transcripts contain 29 volumes of Ruskin’s Diaries (1835-1888), a selected edition of which has been published. The large collection of over 3600 books includes around 350 books from Ruskin’s Library and contains all of Ruskin’s published writings (a collected edition of 39 volumes). There are foreign language versions of some of the more important texts and also a comprehensive reference library of books about Ruskin. Other archives include transcripts, articles and newspaper cuttings featuring his whole range of interests including religion, geology, the arts and the environment.

Subjects

Archives

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC