Collection: Hull Museums and Gallery

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  The roots of Hull Museum’s collections go back to those of the Literary & Philosophical Society. Founded in 1823 and housed in the Royal Institution on Albion Street the collection and building were transferred to Hull Corporation in 1900.

  Thomas Sheppard was appointed the museum’s first Curator in January 1901 and under his stewardship a reorganised Municipal Museum was opened to the public in 1902. An Art Gallery, originally housed above the museum, effectively became a separate entity with the appointment of its own Curator in 1904. A Natural History Museum then opened to the public in 1910, ocсupying the space previously occupied by the art gallery. A Museum of Commerce and Transport was opened on High Street in 1925 and a Railway Museum followed, opening on Paragon Street in 1933 and displaying some of the railway collections from the Museum of Commerce and Transport. Sadly this museum and 250 of its exhibits was destroyed during an air raid in 1941. The Albion Street building and much of its collection was also destroyed during an air raid in 1943. Easington Tithe Barn opened in 1928 as Britain’s first folk life and agricultural museum but closed in 1939 on the outbreak of war and never reopened as a museum. In 1931 Sheppard had the idea to create an entire street in a warehouse behind Wilberforce House on High Street, to be known as ‘The Old Times Street’. The plan was to reproduce shops of 100-150 years ago, and by the mid 1930s it was near completion. However it too was destroyed by an air raid in 1941 before it even had the chance to open to the public.

  The Hull and East Riding Museum dates back to 1925 as the Museum of Commerce and Transport based in a former Customs House. It acquired its present name in 1989 with a major refurbishment and new entrance. The Archaeology Collections of Hull Museums are regarded as one of the foremost in the country. The founder collection is that of the 19th century archaeologist, J R Mortimer, encompassing Neolithic, Bronze Age and Anglo-Saxon grave-goods, derived from 360 barrows on the Yorkshire Wolds. The finds are accompanied by Mortimer’s detailed site records.

  In 1905 the Rt Hon Thomas Robinson Ferens gave money for the purchase of art works and in 1917 donated funds for a new art gallery to be built on the site of the former St John’s Church. The Ferens Art Gallery was named after this benefactor and opened in 1927 and was run independently until in 1975 the museums and art gallery were combined under a single curator. TR Ferens also provided a substantial endowment for the purchase of works of art and the existing collections have mainly been funded from this provision.

  The Maritime Museum, originally known as the Museum of Fisheries and Shipping, opened in 1912 in Pickering Park. Curator Tom Sheppard had obtained a building in Pickering Park from a local trawler owner who was interested in the whaling equipment then displayed in the Municipal Museum. The new museum displayed both whaling and fishing material, a reflection of the history of Hull as a major shipping and fishing port. The collection moved to its current location, the Grade Il* listed Dock Offices building, in 1974, opening as Hull Maritime Museum in 1975.

  The Museum of Commerce and Transport was opened on High Street in 1925 as the first of its kind in Britain. Original housed in the Corn Exchange building (now the site of Hull & East Riding Museum) displays showed the evolution of transport and Hull’s principal industries. The early years of the collection included the acquisition of ten veteran cars from the private Motor Museum in Knightsbridge and a selection of horse-drawn carriages from families and businesses in East Yorkshire. Unfortunately the collections were extensively damaged in 1941. The museum re-opened as the Transport and Archaeology Museum in 1957. In the early 1980s it was agreed that the transport collection had outgrown its shared home alongside the archaeology collection and funding was secured to build on land next to the Hull and East Riding Museum. Streetlife Museum opened in 2002 with galleries thematically based and using scenic displays to represent the context of the objects.

  Wilberforce House had been a private home, a bank and a commercial office for a seed and cake merchant. Bought by Hull Corporation in 1903 it was transformed into an historical museum and memorial to William Wilberforce. Opened in 1906 it is in many ways one of Sheppard’s greatest achievements. He collected material relating to Wilberforce and slavery, and developed a series of period rooms in the house with the help of local benefactors. The museum reflects the lasting legacy of its most famous resident, William Wilberforce (1759-1833), the slave-trade abolitionist, who was born in the house. When it opened as a museum to the public in 1906, the displays included material on Wilberforce, slavery, social history and gun manufacture. Damaged by bombing during the war Wilberforce House and the adjoining Georgian Houses re-opened to the public in 1957.

  The Old Grammar School is Hull’s oldest secular building. Built in 1583 as the Hull Merchant Adventurers’ Hall it housed the Grammar School from 1766 until 1878. It later became the Holy Trinity Choir School. Andrew Marvell and William Wilberforce were pupils here. Undergoing restoration between 1985 and 1987 it opened as the Hands On History Museum in 1997.

  The Spurn Lightship was built in 1927 and served for 48 years as a navigation aid in the approaches of the Humber Estuary. The lightship was decommissioned in 1975 and bought and restored by Hull City Council in 1983. It was moved to Hull Marina as a museum in 1987. The ship is preserved to show how the seven man crew worked and passed the time on their month long deployments. Communication and emergency equipment dating from the launch of the vessel in 1927 are on display. The ship closed to the public in 2018 in preparation for the vessel being relocated as part of the Hull: Yorkshire’s Maritime City Project.

  The Arctic Corsair is berthed on the River Hull between Drypool Bridge and Myton Bridge, at the rear of the Streetlife Museum. Built in 1960 at Beverley Shipyard for the Boyd Line it was the last of the Hull side fishing vessels or ‘side winders’. She had a long and successful career despite the decline of the local fishing industry after 1975. A veteran of the Cod Wars, the Arctic Corsair was rammed by an Icelandic gun boat in the 1970s. After a lay-up of seven years she achieved a record breaking return to fishing in 1986 before being finally laid up in the winter of 1987. The vessel opened to the public in 1999. The ship closed to the public in 2018 in preparation for the vessel being relocated as part of the Hull: Yorkshire’s Maritime City Project.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2019

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  Hull Museums Accredited and Designated collections are currently distributed across the following six museum sites: Hull and East Riding Museum, The Ferens Art Gallery, Maritime Museum, Streetlife Museum, Wilberforce House and Hands on History.

  Hull and East Riding Museum

  Hull and East Riding Museum displays items from prehistoric to medieval in the area, many of the region is represented by world-famous objects including the Roos Carr figures, the group of early Bronze Age boats from North Ferriby and the Iron Age Hasholme Boat. Material from the ‘Arras Culture’ cemetery and settlement at Garton/Wetwang is in constant demand by researchers from around the world.

  From the Roman period come the stunning mosaics from Rudston and Brantingham, together with archives from recent large-scale projects such as the roadside settlements at Shiptonthorpe and Hayton. Nationally-important collections from the medieval period include the Anglo-Saxon cremation cemetery at Sancton and archives from urban excavations in Hull and Beverley.

  The museum also houses a large collection of natural history specimens, including mounted birds and animals, insects, shells and geology.

  The Ferens Art Gallery

  The Ferens Art Gallery houses a nationally and internationally significant collection of paintings and sculpture spanning the medieval period to the present day. Strengths include European Old Masters, particularly Dutch and Flemish work, portraiture, marine paintings, modern British art and contemporary photography and new media of increasingly international scope. Highlights include masterpieces by Pietro Lorenzetti, Frans Hals, Antonio Canaletto, Lady Elizabeth Butler, George Stubbs, Henry Moore, Gwen John, David Hockney, Bridget Riley, Helen Chadwick and Ron Mueck. The Gallery is also proud of its collection of works by local East Riding artist, Frederick William Elwell 1870-1958) and important and unique British Marine Paintings by John Ward, William Frederick Settle, Henry Redmore and Thomas Jaques Somerscaes.

  The Maritime Museum

  The Maritime Museum collection includes material relating to the local maritime community and maritime history, merchant shipping and the fishing and whaling industries. Significant areas in the collection relate to shipping and the internationally renowned Wilson Line shipping business, docking, maritime art and photography, and ship models. Internationally important collections of whaling material include a 40-foot Northern Right whale skeleton as well as an important scrimshaw collection.

  The Streetlife Museum of Transport

  The Streetlife Museum of Transport tells the unique story of two-hundred years of transport history. The emphasis in the Streetlife Museum is on an immersive, interactive experience where non-traditional learning takes the place of large amounts of written text. Another important element is the transport collection, including examples from the earliest days of motoring with cars propelled by steam, electricity and petrol. These include an 1899 English Daimler, previously owned by George Cadbury and a very rare 1898 Panhard et Levassor Motor Wagonette; an example of the first car model to be built as a car, rather than a converted horsedrawn carriage. The Museum additionally houses extensive displays on local public transport, including three trams and a local bus displayed in an authentically recreated 1930s indoor street, the design of which has been inspired by the city of Kingston upon Hull.

  The Wilberforce House

  The Wilberforce House collection has a broad focus on the history of slavery in addition to items relating to the life and work of Wilberforce. The two adjacent Georgian Houses form an annexe containing displays of historic costume, period rooms, a clock collection, silverware and firearms made locally. It also incorporates the East Yorkshire Regiment museum.

  Hands on History

  Hands on History collection comes under the heading of both social history and archaeology. There is a large general collection of social history items mainly dating from the 20th century, with some 19th century additions. These items are used to tell the story of Hull people and as a visual resource for school groups. There are large costume, doll and textile collections stored at the Museum, many of national importance, such as the Madam Clapham items which were made in Hull. Many are 19th century, some 20th century and a few very early examples. The museum also holds Egyptology material, including replica furniture from the tomb of Tutankhamun made in 1922 after the discovery of the tomb in Egypt is unique.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2019

  Licence: CC BY-NC