Collection: Hampshire Cultural Trust

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  Hampshire County Council

  The collection relates to the historic county of Hampshire as it was before the 1974 local government reorganisation when adjustments were made to the county boundary. In addition, some material has been acquired from further afield to facilitate greater public understanding of the Hampshire items by placing them in a broader context. This is particularly the case for the decorative arts, biology, geology and the social and industrial history collections.

  The strengths of the current collections can be traced back to those of the three founding museums: Curtis Museum, Alton (founded in the 1850s); Red House Museum, Christchurch (1951) and the Willis Museum, Basingstoke (1931), which had all become the responsibility of Hampshire County Council by 1971.

  The Curtis Museum can trace its collecting activities back to the 1850s, when rural and domestic ‘bygones’ relating to the Alton area were acquired. A small collection of natural history curiosities collected by William Curtis in the 1840s dates back to the middle of the eighteenth century.

  Local societies and individuals began to build up similar collections in Basingstoke and Christchurch from the 1920s onwards, prior to the establishment of the fledgling countywide service in 1962. The appointment of professional curators from the 1950s led to the development of systematic collecting policies for all of the major disciplines, including Decorative Art, Local and Industrial History, Archaeology and Natural Science.

  The acquisition of a wide range of general agricultural machinery and iron goods manufactured by Taskers at their Anna Valley works near Andover from 1968 onwards stimulated the development of a major transport and technology collection. The scale and significance of this collection ultimately led to the opening in Basingstoke of Milestones – Hampshire’s living history museum in 2000.

  Following the formation of the County Museums Service in 1974 other district councils in Hampshire entered into partnership with the County Council to establish local museums and encourage collecting in their districts. The expansion of this network of community museums has enabled professional museum staff to develop county and regional collections which aims to reflect the whole of Hampshire and its people.

  Winchester City Council

  Winchester City Museum is the oldest in Hampshire, founded privately in 1847 and transferred to the City Corporation in 1851 under the provisions of the newly established Museums Act. In accordance with the museum philosophy of the age, and their own taste and special interests, successive early curators acquired and disposed of material, moulding the content and extent of the collections in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Material from the whole of Hampshire, and indeed from further afield, was often collected, largely as a result of gifts from wealthy benefactors.

  The appointment of a professional curator in 1947 led to the development of a more focused role as a repository for local history and archaeological material. This coincided with the start of systematic archaeological investigation both in the city and in the surrounding rural area. These two elements form the core of the collections today, the archaeological material being of national, and in some respects international, importance.

  Following the establishment of the county-wide museums service in 1962, material from areas covered by the museums forming the service has not been collected. Since local government re-organisation in 1974, collecting has largely been restricted to the area within the boundaries of Winchester District. Photographic archives formerly held by the City Library were transferred to the City Museum at that time.

  Some of the early material collected by Winchester City Museum has been relocated by gift or exchange to more appropriate museums: for example, in 2008, the geology collection was passed to Hampshire County Council Museums Service. Some objects have been retained because their presence in Winchester is published or well documented and are therefore more accessible for use if retained rather than relocated elsewhere. Others are retained because they have been given to the city by local people and are part of Winchester’s civic past.

  Management by Hampshire Cultural Trust

  In November 2014, the Hampshire Cultural Trust (HCT) was founded and signed agreements with both Hampshire County Council and Winchester City Council to manage the museum collections on their behalf. Ownership of the collections was retained by each council respectively.

  HCT is an independent charity that provides the professional expertise and experience to develop the collections on behalf of the councils. Both councils are represented at Board level, and have approved a scheme of delegation with regards to the development of their collections that is reflected in this policy.

  Initially, HCT employed subject-specialist curators to manage the collections thematically under the following headings: art, archaeology & numismatics, natural history, social history and photographs. Each curator oversaw the development of their collections in line with a shared objective to enhance the relevance of the collections to Hampshire or Winchester respectively.

  Since 2018, collections management has been integrated into a programme matrix, a function that operates across all work-streams combining collections management with exhibitions. With professional expertise at its core, the new structure represents the ambition to better use the collections for public benefit.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2020

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  Hampshire County Council Collections

  Hampshire Archaeology

  This collection is formed of the material evidence of human existence and industry in Hampshire from 500,000 years ago to the Second World War derived from major research excavations, rescue archaeology, field walking and stray finds. Hampshire County Council is designated through the planning process as the appropriate recipient body for archives from developer-led archaeological investigations in Hampshire. This collection includes a significant number of numismatic items and a small amount of material from historic collections of Ancient Egypt.

  Significant archaeological sites included in this collection include:

  • Danebury, and the Danebury Environs Project – nationally significant research excavations of now iconic Iron Age hillfort
  • Owslebury Iron Age and Roman rural settlement
  • Silchester (post-1974) – one of the best preserved Roman towns in Britain
  • Roman kiln sites of the New Forest and Woolmer Forest
  • Basing House (post 1978), Tudor home and site of Civil War battle
  • Odiham Castle, former home of King John and possibly the place from which he rode to Runnymede to sign the Magna Carta

  Hampshire Art

  This collection represents the cultural life of Hampshire and its people from the medieval period to the present day. It embraces fine art, sculpture, ceramics, glass, metalwork, historic dress and textiles, horology, and firearms. Historically, the strengths of the art collections arises from the three founding collections and their subsequent development: Curtis Museum, Alton (historic dress and textiles, decorative arts, firearms) Red House Museum, Christchurch (historic dress and textiles, decorative art) and the Willis Museum, Basingstoke (horology, historic dress and textiles). This includes a ceramics collection, which is arguably of national significance. Today, relevance and association with the county of Hampshire is the overriding consideration for new acquisitions.

  Significant elements within this collection include:

  • Outstanding ceramic collections including country pottery, delftware, art pottery, studio pottery and ceramic tiles, including a rare 1679 full height tin-glazed earthenware figurine of Ignis
  • Extensive historic textile and dress collections including an outstanding collection of agricultural smocks, Rivis collection of 18^th – 20^th century ladies’ dresses and the only surviving garment with a good provenance to Jane Austen
  • The Vokes collection of historic sporting firearms including one sporting gun attributed to young Lord Byron
  • Paintings and drawings of local artists including a significant collection of works by William H Allen (1863 – 1943) and Martin Snape (1852-1930)

  Hampshire Natural Sciences

  The biology and geology collections represent Hampshire’s natural environment, past and present. The biology collections include specimens of preserved plants and animals collected over the last 150 years. Although modern collecting focusses on Hampshire, there are some specimens from abroad, including a well-preserved set of Dodo bones. The entomology collections are primarily a British collection, but with a strong Hampshire bias. They act as the repository for supporting evidence for Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre records. The geology collections contain fossils specimens from the Cretaceous, Paleogene and Quaternary rocks from Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. There are also fossil specimens along with rocks and minerals from classic Victorian British and International sites.

  Voucher and reference specimens, archives and reference works within this collection are fundamental to the aims and objectives of the Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre, the Hampshire Geodiversity Community Network and support other environmental research, both locally and nationally.

  Significant elements within this collection include:

  • Biological reference collection of approximately 135,000 specimens of preserved plants and animals, mainly collected from the British Isles with an emphasis on Hampshire. Most of the oldest specimens, with the earliest dated 1737, were collected by the Curtis Museum but many different collectors have contributed to the collection over the years.
  • The oldest skeletal remains come from two extinct birds, the Dodo (from Mauritius) and the Moa (from New Zealand). Both of these have local links with William Curtis.
  • A comprehensive geology collection of minerals, rocks and particularly fossil specimens from the Quaternary, Paleocene and Cretaceous periods of Hampshire and Isle of Wight.

  Hampshire Photographs

  The collection contains a large number of portraits and topographical views of the historic county of Hampshire and its people dating from the 1850s to the present day. Photographs are acquired primarily for their topographical or collections-related content rather than for any artistic merit although the two sometimes occur in the same image. The collection consists of photographic prints, negatives, glass plate negatives, lantern-slides and transparencies.

  Significant elements within this collection include:

  • Photographs chronicling the Tichborne Trials, the extended 19^th century legal battle that led to national legal reform
  • Comprehensive archive of images and postcards of Hampshire’s towns and villages

  Hampshire Local History

  This collection consists of objects and information that tell the story of everyday life and work in Hampshire, mainly from the 19th century to modern times tracing the changing patterns as Hampshire moved from a rural to an urban economy. It includes maps, childhood collections and objects relating to local industries and transport heritage. A significant collecting area has been the impact of manufacturing within Hampshire with a particular focus on transport material relating to Taskers, Thornycroft, Wallis and Steevens, Lansing Bagnall and Gordon Keeble.

  Significant elements within this collection include:

  • Transport collections including 1875-1926 Tasker steam engines, 1920-1950s Wallis and Steevens steam and motor road rollers, 1896-1960s Thornycroft cars and commercial vehicles
  • Domestic technology from 1890s to 1990s including the Trainor collection of iconic popular household design items from the 1950s and 1960s
  • Extensive childhood collection of toys of the 19^th and 20^th century including an outstanding variety of teddy-bears and dolls

  Winchester City Council Collections

  Winchester Archaeology & Numismatics

  The collection comprises material and records recovered as the result of research excavations, ‘rescue archaeology’, and now the planning process. Winchester City Council is designated as the appropriate recipient body for archaeological archives from developer-led archaeological investigations in the Winchester district area. From the city itself comes the largest urban archaeological collection arising from systematic excavation outside London, and as such is arguably of international significance. The collection includes a significant numismatic collection ranging from preRoman to post-medieval coins from the area including the largest collection of Winchester mint coins in Europe. In addition, the collection includes limited World Archaeology and World Cultures collections formed in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

  Among the many significant elements of this collections are:

  • Historic and modern excavations within the city centre, such as the Brook Street sites, Wolvesey Palace and the cathedral, tracing nearly 2,000 years of urban development
  • Northern, eastern and western city Roman cemeteries with over 2,000 graves in total, including Osborne School (formerly Lankhills)
  • Hyde Abbey, in Winchester’s northern suburb, and St Mary’s Abbey in Abbey View Gardens
  • Anglo-Saxon cemeteries at Worthy Park, Winnall and Old Dairy Cottage site
  • Bronze Age burials and urns from Oliver’s Battery
  • Many Winchester rural parishes – including iron smelting in the Forest of Bere
  • Exceptional individual objects such as the Winchester Moot Horn, the Winchester Reliquary and examples of the Winchester Art style of the 10^th century.

  Winchester Local History & Topographical Art

  This collection includes objects and fine art illustrating the character and development of the city and district from the post-medieval period to the present day. The fine art, similar to photography, is topographic in nature although some objects are of local or regional artistic value as well. Particular strengths of the existing collections are in material manufactured by local firms or craftspeople, objects relating to local retailers and industries, and material relating to civic and social history and institutions. This collection includes material given by civic groups such as visiting twin town representatives and the city’s weights and measures.

  Significant elements include:

  • A range of everyday items sold or produced in the city and district in the late 19^th and early 20^th century chronicling a former way of life, including for example the stock of Foster’s tobacconist
  • Drawings and paintings of Winchester through the ages including a comprehensive collection of works by C B Phillips sketching the streets and buildings of the city
  • Items associated with prominent people associated with Winchester, for example the cyclist F D Frost, or the Marchioness of Winchester
  • Gifts to the city, not least the oil painting of ‘King Charles II’ by Sir Peter Lely, dated 1680 and John Opie’s ‘Lady Elizabeth Woodville pleading for her children before Edward IV’

  Winchester Photographs

  This is the largest collection of historical photographic material of Winchester and district. The collection consists mainly of photographs from 1870 to the present day, but also includes some cine film, and video and audio tape.

  Significant elements include:

  • The complete set of Mayoral portraits from 1848 to the present day
  • The Hampshire Chronicle glass plate negative collection representing the 1950s to 1970s
  • The work of local photographers tracing modern development such as William Savage (late 19th century), W.T. Green (Edwardian period) and Heathcote Wride 1930s-1950s

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2020

  Licence: CC BY-NC