Collection: Warwickshire Museum Service

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  The Warwickshire Natural History and Archaeological Society (WNHAS) was established in 1836 and began collecting archaeological and natural science material shortly afterwards. The Collection was originally worldwide in its scope and provenance and is now referred to as ‘the historical collection’. The mission of WNHAS was essentially to ‘bring the world to Warwickshire’.

  The Collection was transferred to the Warwickshire Museum when it was created by Warwickshire County Council in 1932. Since then, collecting has focused on objects and specimens with Warwickshire provenance, association, connections or relevance. Nowadays the focus is on ‘bringing Warwickshire to the world’, through our county-focused collecting policy, and wide-ranging interpretation media.

  One of the more notable members of the WNHAS was Reverend Peter Bellinger Brodie, honorary curator for the society during the latter part of the nineteenth century, who amassed nationally and internationally significant collections of Warwickshire fossils. These include fossils from the local Triassic and Jurassic rocks, the latter including a near complete fossil plesiosaur skeleton from the village of Wilmcote, and Triassic reptiles and amphibians from Warwick. The late 20th century saw the addition of the Truslove Collection of minerals, the geological collections of North Warwickshire College, Leamington Museum and Art Gallery and that of Mr David Hughes.

  Another important collection acquired during this time was the Perry Herbarium of wild plants. Among the historic archaeological collections, a small but interesting assemblage of Ancient Egyptian artefacts and remains were brought together by various society members, and an important bequest of stone tools was donated by Reverend J.M. Mello in 1914. Among significant individual objects there is also a well-known Giant Irish Deer skeleton which was acquired in 1866.

  During the 1930s the natural history collections were further strengthened by significant contributions to the herbarium by local naturalists. The most notable additions to the taxidermy collection were the cased birds and mammals, with equipment and historical information connected with the local taxidermy firm of Spicer. Most of the foreign zoology material was transferred to the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum (Coventry) in 2003.

  The main growth in the archaeology collections came in the mid-1960s with an increase in road and housing development that brought significant Roman assemblages come from the kiln sites of Mancetter and the extra-mural excavations at Alcester. The numismatic collections include coins from the early English mint at Warwick and the Newdigate collection of Classical Greek and Roman coins acquired in 1958.

  A small ethnography collection was transferred to other museums in the 1970s.

  The founding WNHAS collections included very little that would be described today as ‘social’ history. Much of the collecting of objects and narratives from more recent local history (including costume and textiles) began towards the middle of the 20th century. Jocelyn Morris, curator from 1948 to 1977 influenced a number of key acquisitions at this time. Significant additions include the Hans Frei lute (16th century); the Nicholas Paris guns (17th- 18th century) and the Sheldon Tapestry map of Warwickshire (16th century), purchased in 1961. In addition, in 1987, Warwickshire Museum acquired a large collection of dolls and toys from Joy Robinson and Peggy Nesbitt.

  In 2004, the Roman Alcester Heritage Museum was opened in Alcester at Globe House, with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. It is administered by the Alcester Heritage Trust, under a bipartite agreement with Warwickshire County Council. Objects from the Warwickshire Museum collections (mainly Roman but including prehistoric and early medieval in date) are displayed there on renewable loan agreements.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2020

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  The focus of current collection is on the county of Warwickshire, its inhabitants and landscapes, and the stories they tell. Although some of the early WNHAS material strictly does not comply with present-day collecting criteria it is still used for interpretation and learning activities, and helps tell the story of the Museum’s past.

  Archaeological Collections

  The collections are especially strong in Palaeolithic, Roman, Early Saxon and Medieval material. As the Museum is the main repository for archaeological archives in the county (with the exception of Rugby town and specific parishes) a significant proportion of new acquisitions are through developer-funded excavations. These projects often bring a paper (and digital) record, along with a small number of artefacts retained for future reference/ research.

  The important Roman sites of Alcester, Mancetter and Coleshill are well represented within the museum’s collections (c.12,000 objects) and investigations continue in these archaeologically sensitive areas.

  The Palaeolithic collection is of international importance with finds from the sites at Waverley Wood and Wood Farm quarries (c.50 artefacts) and donations from Mr R B Waite of stone implements from northern Warwickshire (c.40 objects).

  The Anglo-Saxon collections include material from three main cemetery site excavations at Stretton-on-Fosse (c.50 objects), Wasperton (c.200 objects) and Bidford-on-Avon (c.150 objects). Excavations on Medieval urban and rural sites combined with chance finds have produced a large collection of approximately 10,000 artefacts. The introduction of the new Treasure Act in 1997 has led to a small but significant number of objects of gold and silver being acquired for the museum’s collections.

  Numismatics

  Today the numismatics collection comprises over 10,000 coins and is among the larger collections in West Midland museums. Warwickshire Museum continues to collect coins from excavated sites and where funds are available, important coin hoards identified through the 1996 Treasure Act. In 2011, the Museum was able to acquire the first South Warwickshire Roman hoard of 1146 republican and early imperial silver denarii. A second hoard of 440 denarii from the same site was discovered during excavations, and this has also been acquired for the collections.

  Natural History

  The Botany collections consist of a very fine herbarium now containing about 40,000 specimens mainly of flowering plants and fungi, including voucher collections and many ‘first county records’. This includes material transferred from the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in 2003.

  Zoology specimens now number close to 32,000 in total. Nearly 1000 are vertebrate items, mounted animals, nests, eggs and skeletons. The rest is invertebrates, comprising mainly pinned insect collections made by local entomologists, but also some British shells, a growing economic reference collection of pest species and a small spirit collection. Apart from Lepidoptera, the insect collection is generally limited.

  Geological Collections

  The early collections form the bulk of the present-day collection but collecting continues in all areas. In recent decades, notable additions include the fossil collection of Mr Peter Blake, and local dinosaur remains transferred from the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

  The collections total about 15,000 specimens made up of approximately 9,000 fossils, 4,000 minerals, 1,000 rocks and a small number of man-made materials (furnace products, e.g. ‘slag’). In scientific terms, the main strengths of the collections lie in Triassic vertebrate fossils and Lower Jurassic fossils in general.

  Photographic Collections

  The collection comprises photographic images in several forms; 35 mm slides and larger transparencies, black and white prints, colour prints, negative film, glass negatives and digitally stored images. A substantial part of the non-digital collection, including the glass negatives and earlier prints, was transferred to the care of the County Record Office in 2003/2004.

  Costume & Textiles

  This includes approximately 5000 items of women’s costume, menswear, children’s clothes, accessories, and textiles such as samplers and quilts – all within the date range 1600 to the present day. It is one of the region’s more significant collections and includes the Sheldon Tapestry Map of Warwickshire c1588.

  Dolls and Toys

  Within the collection there are approximately 1700 items of dolls, toys and games dating from the late 18th century to the present day. As well as the Joy Robinson collection, purchased in1987, the Museum also acquired the Cyril Hobbins collection in 2008. Other additions have come mainly from donations from members of the public. It is of regional, and possibly national, significance.

  Social History

  This is now an extensive collection comprising approximately 11,300 items which are sub-divided into the four categories of Community Life, Domestic & Family Life, Personal Life and Working Life. Most fall within the main date range of 1850-1950.

  Paintings, Drawings and Prints

  The Museum owns a small collection of paintings, prints and drawings – the most notable being portraits by Allan Ramsay, and the remainder being of local people and scenes.

  Musical instruments

  There are a small number of musical instruments of national/international significance, including a lute by Hans Frei and a harpsichord by Herman Tabel.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2020

  Licence: CC BY-NC