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Local and Social History

The collection covers the range from fossils from the Barton Beds, Palaeolithic hand axes, flint tools, medieval pottery, local industry, fine art, costume and textile and social history of the area. In total there are 300 items of agriculture, 500 archaeology, 300 costume and textiles, 100 fine art, 50 oral history, 2,000 photographs and 10,000 social history items.

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

The first public museum in St Neots opened as the Victoria Museum in June 1887 as part of the celebrations for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. Over the next forty years the museum experienced a chequered career and a number of different homes. It finally closed in 1930 with much of the collection being offered to the Norris Museum at St Ives, although a few items survived at the offices of the Urban District Council until the 1950s.

By the early 1960s the town of St Neots was expanding and new housing developments led to new archaeological discoveries and a renewed interest in the history of the area. In 1970 a museum was established at Longsands Secondary School by two teachers, Granville Rudd and Peter Brice.

In the 1980s a small group of townspeople came together to promote the idea of a town centre museum for St Neots. After much hard work by a dedicated group of volunteers the Museum opened in its present premises, the town Police Station and Magistrates Court, in November 1995.

The core of the Museum’s collection has been formed by a collection of local history material transferred to the Museum from the Longsands School Museum. This collection was built up from the 1970s by this local secondary school, and included local archaeological and social history material, as well as items from further afield. At the time St. Neots Museum was being established, the school had decided to retain only those items needed for teaching purposes, and many items falling within the St. Neots Museum’s collecting policy were transferred to the Museum in 1995/6. Subsequently the Longsands Museum Trustees decided that it was no longer practicable to continue operating the Museum, and it was wound up in January 2001. All the Longsands Museum’s accessions and records, were passed to the St. Neots Museum (and many other items to other museums). Many of these items have been added to the St. Neots Museum’s permanent collection, and others do or will form the basis of a handling collection.

As far as possible, St. Neots Museum has tried to ascertain if items transferred in this way have been of local origin and acquired with a valid title, but because of Longsands incomplete records, this has not always been possible. Museum Trustees agreed to accept items from the Longsands collection on this basis, where they were otherwise relevant to the St. Neots Museum collection. The Museum continues to try to secure a valid title for the small number of undocumented items whenever possible.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

The Permanent Collection

St Neots Museum permanent collection consists of a wide range of material including, archaeology, social history, ephemera, photography, costume, and a small number of geological and natural history items. The core of the museum’s collection is formed by local history material transferred to the museum from the former Longsands School Museum. There is an emphasis on items from the period 1800 – 1930 but many other areas and periods of activity have only limited representation. The strength of the collection, and of the associated information, is its ability to tell the story of the history of the town and of the local area and as such it is highly valued by the local community.

The Don Wills Collection

The Don Wills collection is a large and significant collection of Huntingdonshire postcards, postal history, maps, and other 2D material, assembled by a former St. Neots postmaster and donated to the museum by his widow in 1996. The collections contain over 2,000 items including more than 1000 postcards and several hundred historic maps covering the period 1626 to 1968.

Size of the Collection

In 2023 the museums permanent collection consisted of approximately 13,000 items.

Geographical Area and Significance

The museums collections are primarily of local items made or used in the St Neots area, this area is as defined in St Neots Museum Ltd Memorandum and Articles of Association and includes St Neots itself and the villages near the town within approximately five to seven miles of St Neots.

The Museum will collect objects relating to St. Neots town and the surrounding area, including the following civil parishes, provided that the collection does not conflict with the collecting policy of any other registered Museum.

Huntingdonshire District Council:

Abbotsley, Buckden, Diddington, Eynesbury, Great Paxton, Great Gransden, Gt. Staughton, Grafham, Hail Weston, Kimbolton, Little. Paxton, Offord Cluny, Offord D’Arcy, Perry, Southoe & Midloe, St. Neots, Tetworth, Tilbrook, Toseland, Waresley and Yelling.

South Cambs District Council: Eltisley, Gamlingay, Graveley, Little Gransden, Papworth St. Agnes.

North Beds. District Council: Colmworth, Little Barford, Roxton and Staploe.

The significance of the collection is its relevance to the local history of the area and to the people who lived here and also to those who live here today.

The Collection and the Museum’s Statement of Purpose

The scope of the permanent collection enables the museum to fulfil the purpose for which it was established and to accomplish its Mission Statement and Vision.

The Objects of St Neots Museum Ltd

To advance the education of the public in conservation and the history of St Neots, Cambridgeshire and its immediate environs by the provision and maintenance of a museum.

St Neots Museum Mission Statement

Our mission is to collect and preserve the heritage of St Neots and the surrounding area for the education and enjoyment of present and future generations.

St Neots Museum Vision

To inspire people, and in particular our local community, to learn about, enjoy and participate in their heritage through the collections, exhibitions and knowledge of St Neots Museum.

The museums Key Aims are intended to ensure the preservation of the museums collections and to increase access to them, to enable the museum to promote learning and enjoyment, extend participation and develop new partnerships.

Continued relevance of the Core Collections

The museums core collection is of items closely linked to the history of the town and due to the relatively recent establishment of the current collections and the history outlined above, it contains very few items which are no longer relevant. However, regular reviews of the collections ensures that any items that are no longer relevant can be identified and reassessed, this is possible because of the limited size of the collection.

Types of Items and Digital Formats

The collection is primarily of two and three-dimensional objects and only a very limited part of the photographic collection is held in a digital format, and currently all this material is also held as hard two-dimensional copies of digital material. This ensures that as digital technology advances a copy of the original item will still be available as a hard copy.

Unaccessioned Items and the Handling Collection

The museum has used a number of existing unprovenanced items to establish a museum handling collection and a loan box resource. Unprovenanced or duplicate items are still being collected specifically for the handling collection. This collecting is designed to enable us to fulfil our Mission Statement and Vision without compromising our permanent collection items and is currently passive and small scale. These items are documented separately from our permanent collection.

Purchases

Having limited funds, we rarely acquire items by purchase. A few exceptions have, however, been made for items which have appeared on the market and which we would be unlikely to acquire by donation. For example, in 2003 an 18th Century ‘Brown Bess’ musket, issued to members of the Huntingdonshire Militia by local landowner Mr. O. Rowley, was acquired at auction with the assistance of the V&A purchase fund. More recently a hoard of Iron Age gold staters found close to the village of Kimbolton have been purchased with the help of a variety of funding bodies.

Loans

The Museum generally only accepts items on loan for short periods for temporary exhibitions. However, exceptions have been made for important material which we would not otherwise have access to. In particular archaeological material loaned by the Norris Museum, St. Ives, and recently excavated material from the Old Fire Station owned by the Cambridgeshire Archaeological Unit. The museum also has the medieval wooden St. Neots Parish Chest on loan and a formal agreement exists with the PCC which reviews and renews this agreement every five years. A small number of other unique local items are on loan from a local family and a formal agreement exists in relation to these items.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2024

Licence: CC BY-NC

The County Museum collection and County Museum were established at the Quarterly Council Meeting of Staffordshire County Council, held on 28th November 1964, under the enabling powers established by the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964.

The Staffordshire County Museum collection was established by the County Council at the Shugborough Estate in 1964, and the Museum opened in April 1966. (Some objects in the collection pre-date 1964:these include items collected by the County Council’s Planning Department between 1959 and 1963). During the 1970s, as a result of local government reorganisation, the Museum’s archaeological and natural history collections were transferred to Stoke-on-Trent City Museum and Art Gallery. The industrial collections were also transferred or loaned to other museums. The remaining collections have since been focused, through the County Museum and Shugborough Park Farm, on the interpretation of the County’s social, local and agricultural history.

In October 1996, following the reorganisation of the County Council, the County Arts Service and Staffordshire Museum Service were combined to form the Staffordshire Arts and Museum Service. Responsibility for the care and management of the County art collection was then transferred to the Arts and Museum Service. A further restructure in 2011 saw the Museum Service form part of Archives Heritage, while the Arts Service is now part of Libraries Arts. However, the Museum Service has retained responsibility for the art collection.

In November 2016 the County Council relinquished its lease on the Shugborough Estate and management was taken over by the landowners, the National Trust. The County Museum closed at this point, although the Servants’ Quarters element of the Museum and the displays at Shugborough Park Farm have continued to be open to the public. County Museum collections in these areas are on medium-term loan to the National Trust.

As of December 2018, the County Museum Service offices and reserve collections are based at collection stores in Stafford. The new base for the County Museum’s exhibitions and displays will be the Staffordshire History Centre, being developed at the current Staffordshire Record Office site, Eastgate Street, Stafford.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2023

Licence: CC BY-NC

The size of the collection at present is estimated at approximately 29,000 objects and 48,000 photographs. Although collecting continues (around 100 to 150 items per annum) the Museum Service’s continuous rationalisation programme means that the collection is no longer growing.

The museum collection covers a wide range of subjects within the fields of Staffordshire’s social and agricultural history, and, to a lesser extent, crafts and industry. These include: customs and beliefs, agriculture and forestry, public services, retail distribution, education, craft industries, communications and currency, childhood, warfare and defence, hobbies, crafts and pastimes, costume and accessories, health and infant raising, transport.

The art collection falls into two distinct categories:

Fine art. The fine art collections consist of the following categories:

• Works in any medium by artists associated with Staffordshire.
• Works in any medium of subjects located in Staffordshire or strongly associated with the County.
• Contemporary work by significant artists who have exhibited in the County.
• Designs and related information concerning the County Council’s Public Art commissions.

Decorative art. The decorative art collections consist of the following categories:

• Contemporary crafts by makers living and working within the United Kingdom with particular emphasis on jewellery, automata, textiles and toys.
• Items which represent achievement in technique and innovation in craft skills and in the use of materials.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2023

Licence: CC BY-NC

The collection today was formed from the merger of two former collections upon the creation of the Staffordshire Regiment in 1959.

Before this there existed two separate Regimental Trusts with their own collections, which were linked to the two antecedent regiment: the South Staffordshire Regiment Trust and the North Staffordshire Regiment Trust. Both Regiments had separate museums prior to the amalgamation, at different sites.

Their collections dealt with securing and safeguarding the history of their units and their predecessors. The Museums holds copies of these original trust deeds and accession registers.

The majority of the collections at this time were built from donations from the serving community. At the merger of the trusts some items were returned to their owners upon request. We do not hold full record of these disposals. The other items were transferred over to the new trust.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2022

Licence: CC BY-NC

The existing collection consist of objects and archives from the history of the Staffordshire Regiment and its forbears since its inception in 1705. It currently consists of medals, uniforms, equipment, weapons, furniture, silver, pictures, musical instruments, models, journals, newspapers, books, photographs and documents both personal and regimental. It also includes representative items acquired on operations worldwide throughout its history.

In response to the recent restructuring of the British Army the museum has also widened its collecting policy since 2007 to include modern day items connected to the Mercian Regiment, the successor of the Staffordshire Regiment, and in particular the 3rd Battalion (STAFFORDS) of the Mercian Regiment.

Handling collection items include general items of a military and civilian nature suited to use in relevant areas of the National Curriculum.

The Museum currently holds around 13,000 objects in the main collection and around 1200 in the handling collection.

Archival holdings are included within this figure.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2022

Licence: CC BY-NC

Arms and Armour Collection

Collections related to the history of the Regiment from its formation in 1794 to its demise in 1973.

Subjects

Arms and Armour

Fine Art Collection

Collections related to the history of the Regiment from its formation in 1794 to its demise in 1973.

Subjects

Fine Art

Personalia Collection

Personal possessions of officers and men give a direct insight into life in the Regiment.

Subjects

People (military); Personalia; People

Photographic Collection

Collections related to the history of the Regiment from its formation in 1794 to its demise in 1973.

Subjects

World culture; Photography

Social History Collection

Collections related to the history of the Regiment from its formation in 1794 to its demise in 1973.

Subjects

Social History; People

Costume and Textile Collection

Collections related to the history of the Regiment from its formation in 1794 to its demise in 1973. The uniforms of the Bagot family, and the Regimental Guidon, are notable exhibits within this collection.

Subjects

Costume (uniform/regalia); Costume and Textile

Source: Cornucopia

Date: Not known, but before 2015

Licence: CC BY-NC

The Stained Glass Museum’s core collection of stained glass windows were rescued in the 1970s and 1980s from redundant churches across the British Isles. The museum’s founding Trustees and first Curator, Martin Harrison, were principally involved in identifying and rescuing Victorian and Edwardian stained glass windows from such churches during a time when appreciation of post-medieval stained glass was at its lowest ebb, and this role continued under the succeeding administrator Tony Rose.

From its inception The Stained Glass Museum’s mission was to rescue, display and preserve such windows for future generations, and raise public awareness of the art form. Under successor curators Carola Hicks, who joined the museum in the late 1980s, and then Susan Mathews in the 1990s and 2000s, the collection slowly evolved to incorporate a wider range of stained glass from all periods. Important examples from the 13th, 16th, 17th, 18th and late-20th centuries were acquired during these decades, as gifts, bequests or purchases.

In the last 20 years, the collection has continued to evolve with several additional significant stained glass windows, both medieval and modern, acquired by gift, purchase and bequest. In recent years efforts have focused on collecting 20^th and 21^st century stained glass. The museum’s permanent collection of stained glass has always been supplemented and enhanced through loans from private individuals and public organisations including the Victoria and Albert Museum. Designs, cartoons, tools, and glass materials have been acquired at various points since 1975, and many of these items have been acquired following the sale or closure of stained glass studios.

In the last 10 years, several long-term loans have been converted to gifts.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2023

Licence: CC BY-NC

The Stained Glass Museum’s accessioned collection can be broadly broken down into three categories: – Stained Glass; Preparatory Designs, Cartoons and Maquettes; and Tools, materials and other objects. The nonaccessioned collections are formed of the library and picture resources.

Stained Glass

The Stained Glass Museum’s collection encompasses representative stained glass panels and windows from the 13th-century through to the present day, from both religious and secular settings from all parts of the British Isles. The chronological range and scope of its collections ranks it amongst the most significant collections of stained glass in the world. The collection includes approximately 900 individual stained glass panels of varying size, including autonomous panels. Some of these panels are part of larger windows, and the collection includes approximately 500 different stained glass windows, some of which are entirely complete and others which represent the most part of a window, with some fragments missing. The collection also includes representative stained glass panels by international artists from Europe and the USA that demonstrate significant stylistic, technical or architectural developments.

In addition to the many completed stained glass panels and windows, the museum has approximately 350 smaller pieces of stained and painted glass, fragments and samples of clear and coloured glass, many of which came from stained glass studios or glassmaking factories.

The Stained Glass Museum owns a small but significant selection of stained glass panels from the medieval period, including key works from the 13th, 15th and 16th centuries. This collection of medieval glass is supplemented by loans. Stained glass from the 17th through to the early 19th centuries forms a smaller but representative part of the collection, reflecting the reduced production of stained glass in this period. The major strength of The Stained Glass Museum’s collection compared to other comparable collections is its post-medieval collection of stained glass panels and windows, especially those made 1840-1960, which reflects well the enormous quantity and diversity of stained glass windows made in this period.

Preparatory Designs, Cartoons, Maquettes

The Museum has a small but significant collection of approximately 300 preparatory designs, maquettes, cartoons and cut-lines relating to 19th- and 20th-century stained glass made by individual artist-craftsmen as well as large commercial studios. Most of these objects are works on paper, although some of the maquettes are three-dimensional models made using plastic or resin. These objects reveal the various artistic processes involved in the design and making of stained glass.

Tools, materials and other miscellaneous objects

Tools and materials related to the design, manufacture, recording and conservation of stained glass windows make up approximately 300 objects in total. Many of these items are tools used to blow, form, colour, cut and shape glass; brushes and utensils used to apply and remove paint and decorate the surface of the glass; fix or fire painted glass; or tools used to mould, mill, cut and solder lead and fix panels. Most of these items date to the 19th and 20th centuries and were acquired from glassmaking factories or stained glass studios both large and small. In addition a small number of items relate to the recording or conservation of stained glass, e.g. sketches of stained glass in situ, rubbings, or photographs.

Non-accessioned collections

In addition to its accessioned collection The Stained Glass Museum also has the following non-accessioned collections (not covered by this policy, but relevant to understanding the museum’s current collections):

• A library resource of over 3,500 books, pamphlets and articles relating to the history, techniques and conservation of stained glass, as well as the study of glass art, architecture, decorative arts, heraldry and iconography. The library is catalogued separately to the accessioned collection and accessible to visitors by prior appointment.
• A slide library of over 32,500 slides, together with postcards and photographs of stained glass windows, many of which were acquired from leading scholars.
• A handling collection of tools, materials and stained glass, which is used as a learning resource for visiting groups and during learning outreach sessions. The handling collection is labelled and catalogued separately to the accessioned collection.

Source: Collection development policy

Date: 2023

Licence: CC BY-NC