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Wikidata identifier:
Q5210790
Instance of:
local museum; local authority museum
Museum/collection status:
Accredited museum
Accreditation number:
1062
Persistent shareable link for this record:
https://museumdata.uk/museums/q5210790/

Collection-level records:

  • Collection history (Collection development policy)

    The collection is composed predominantly of social history and industrial material from the Yorkshire Dales. It was established in the 1940s by the founder of the Museum, Marie Hartley, working initially with Ella Pontefract and later with Joan Ingilby. There was an initial emphasis on the Upper Dales such as Wensleydale and Swaledale.

    The majority of artefacts collected up to the late 1990s relate to the period 1800-1950. The strengths of that collection include agriculture, dairying, tinsmithing, rural crafts and knitting. Many of these objects were documented in books by Hartley and Ingilby such as Handknitters of the Dales and Life and Tradition in the Yorkshire Dales. The objects have good provenance and are of a high quality.

    Items previously displayed at Bolton Castle were taken into the collection by Hartley and Ingilby prior to its transfer to North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) and the opening of the Upper Dales Folk Museum in 1979. Material has been added to the collection since that time. The NYCC collection was transferred to the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) in 1997.

    Since then, objects relating to medicine and material relating to the life of Marie Hartley and Joan Ingilby have been added. In 2015 the Yorkshire Dales Mining Museum at Earby closed. Artefacts relating specifically to the Yorkshire Dales were acquired by the YDNPA following a decision by the Full Authority.

    Source: Collection development policy

    Date: 2020

    Licence: CC BY-NC

  • Collection overview (Collection development policy)

    The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority holds a resource for promoting understanding and enjoyment of the cultural heritage, wildlife and landscape of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The collection housed at the Dales Countryside Museum, falls into the following broad subject areas:

    • Social History
    • Archaeology and Numismatics
    • Arts – Ceramics, Costume, Textiles, Folk Art, and Contemporary craft.
    • Archives – Dialect poetry, Oral history

    In addition to the social and industrial material described above, the museum also has a small collection of archaeological material, in particular material relating to the prehistoric period.

    Source: Collection development policy

    Date: 2020

    Licence: CC BY-NC

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