Collection: Heritage Doncaster

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  Founding collections

  Doncaster Museum opened in March 1910. The museum started with 1006 objects, which were owned by the Doncaster Microscopic and General Scientific Society. These collections included archaeology, natural history, geology, ethnography, arms, ceramics, prints, medals, “bygones” and coins.

  Cusworth became the main repository for Social History when it opened in 1967. The first curator there, John Goodchild had a free rein to collect objects for the new museum, and collected archives and industrial history objects. Later curators focussed more on collecting country house and social history objects. Bernard Cuttriss had his own separate museum within Cusworth in the 1960s, mainly of Victorian social history and militaria and some of this material was amalgamated into the main collections.

  Significant Curators and donors

  EF Gilmour, director from 1952 to 1967 was a natural history specialist, with a particular interest in long horned beetles (Cerambycidae). Gilmour acquired a large number of Cerambycids for the collection, some of which are type specimens, and some of which have an uncertain provenance.

  In 1964, Doncaster Museum moved into its present building on Chequer Road. As the museum was larger than the previous building, and Gilmour had plans to expand the collections to give them more of a “World View”, he acquired a large amount of natural sciences material from other museums which was at the time surplus to their requirements. These included Carlisle, Kilmarnock, Chelmsford and Scarborough Museums. Gilmour also acquired some material from the Imperial Institute, where he had worked in the 1940s. This material forms part of the World Cultures and Natural Sciences collections

  In the 1950s and early 1960s, Doncaster Museum had a zoo containing up to 400 animals. Many of the animals found their way into the museum’s collections after they had died.

  In the 1980s, Anne Hull Grundy donated around 600 pieces of jewellery, decorative art and art medals to Doncaster Museum.

  Frank Brangwyn was a major donor to the art gallery, donating 66 pieces of his work in 1944. The Contemporary Art Society has gifted 72 works to the art gallery since 1952.

  Don Bramley, a volunteer, collected around 300 geological specimens for the museum.

  In 1974, the museum was given the E M Morehouse collection of Mollusca which consisted of around 5500 lots of shells.

  The first archaeological objects were given to the museum by ex-Mayor, William Cotterill Clarke. His collection includes some of ‘s earliest and most important prehistoric artefacts. The archaeological/Antiquities collection was further augmented by the museum’s first curator Henry Corbett who appears to have collected together archaeological artefacts from collectors/donors around and adjoining the borough.

  Other key acquisitions

  After the First World War, the museum acquired a large number of “souvenirs” from the war, including helmets, swords and shells. A tank was given to the town after the war and stood outside the Beechfield Museum until 1938.

  In the 1930s Professor C.E. Whiting of Durham University undertook excavations at Sutton Common Prehistoric Marsh Fort, Hampole Medieval Priory, Barnburgh Medieval Chapel and Stancil Roman Villa. Finds from these sites found their way into the collections at the museum.

  In the 1950s-70s the archaeology collections were increased and excavations in Doncaster town centre produced large archives, relating to the Roman Fort and Vicus (Civil Settlement) and the Norman to pre Tudor Town. With the introduction of PPG16 (The Planning Policy Guidance for Development and Archaeology) in 1996 the museum saw an increase in professional archaeological archives, covering the whole borough.

  The first work of art to enter the collection was Miss E.M Wilde’s painting, Low Tide, which the corporation purchased from the ‘Summer Exhibition of Modern Art’ held at Beechfield in 1912. From that time the collection has gradually grown through a mixture of purchases, gifts and bequests.

  Many objects in our collection have been bought with grant aid, including a number of racing cups from Doncaster Racecourse, 3 paintings by Joseph Wright, Giants Refreshed by Terence Cuneo and a large number of decorative art pieces.

  Key disposals

  In 1933, a large amount of natural history material was destroyed due to infestation.

  Since 2003, the collection has undergone several rationalisation projects. This was due to the fact that past collecting, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s was very prolific, leaving a collection with many duplicate objects, objects which were not relevant to the Doncaster Borough and objects in poor condition. Staff restructures during this period left fewer specialist and curatorial staff to look after the collection adequately. Objects were disposed via donation to other museums and education services and community projects, destruction where material was in poor condition, and sale as a last resort.

  In 2004, following the refurbishment of Cusworth Hall and move of the collection to an off-site store, around 1300 pieces of social history were disposed.

  In 2008, around 2000 pieces of costume were disposed.

  In 2012-14, Around 4000 objects were disposed as part of the Taking Stock Project.

  In 2013 7000 palaeontological specimens were allocated for disposal to other museums as part of the CIRCA project.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2018

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  At present (2018) the following collections have a member of staff with expertise in that particular field

  • Social and Local History
  • Archaeology (Including Antiquities)
  • World Cultures
  • Fine and Decorative Arts

  Other collections are not supported by in-house expertise. For these we would actively look to recruit volunteers or honorary curators with knowledge relevant to these collections. We would also look to apply for grants to take on a temporary staff member to facilitate the curation of these collections. We would also look at accessing external expertise and working in partnership with other organisations and individuals.

  Social History

  The Social History collections comprise around 35,000 items illustrating the themes of working, domestic, personal and community life from around 1700 to the present day, with particular reference to the geographical area now covered by the Doncaster Borough (hereafter referred to as the Doncaster area). They include printed ephemera, and objects such as domestic equipment, working tools (both agricultural and industrial), costume and textiles, photographic collections, and scientific instruments.

  Military items are placed with the Military History collection. Artefacts retrieved due to excavation, metal detecting or fieldwork are placed in the Archaeology collection. Historic taxidermy specimens are placed with the Natural Sciences collection. Pieces from the potteries and other decorative art and jewellery are placed in the Decorative Art collection. Horseracing material is placed with the Horseracing collection. Objects relating more specifically to local history are placed within the Local History collection.

  In terms of paper collections, paper ephemera such as greetings cards, displayable posters and newspapers, and photographs which are objects in themselves (eg framed) are part of the social or local history collection. Written primary source material will be collected by Doncaster Archives. The Local Studies library will collect photographs of Doncaster, oral history recordings and published material relating to Doncaster, e.g. maps, books etc.

  Particular strengths of the collection are:

  • Toys and games
  • Domestic life from around 1880-1960
  • Tools used by blacksmiths/wheelwrights/coopers and farmers.
  • Women’s clothing from 1800-1950

  Some of the more important objects include:

  • Long case clock by Benjamin Huntsman

  Local History

  The Local History collections comprise around 20,000 items illustrating the themes of working, domestic, personal and community life in Doncaster from around 1700 to the present day. They include printed ephemera, and objects such as domestic equipment, working tools (both agricultural and industrial), shop material, cultural items, banners, furniture and photographs. This collection also includes objects relating to Doncasters’s civic history.

  Particular strengths of the collection are:

  • The lives of coalminers and their families
  • Railway work and history
  • Objects relating to Doncaster Council

  Some of the more important objects include:

  • Estate cabinet and other furniture belonging to the Battie-Wrightson family of Cusworth Hall
  • Embroidery depicting the Cadeby colliery disaster of 1912
  • Italian sugar bag sent to in 1985 by a mining family during the miner’s strike.
  • Luke Bagshaw collection of studio photographs.

  Military History

  Heritage Doncaster’s own Military History collection has 1300 items with the majority coming from regiments raised in Yorkshire. These include West Riding Yeomanry Cavalry Corps (including Yorkshire Hussars, 1^st West Yorkshire Yeomanry, Yorkshire Dragoons and Yorkshire Yeomanry) and elements of the Royal Engineers and Royal Artillery stationed in . The collection is distinct from the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry regimental collection.

  Strengths of the collection are:

  • Uniforms
  • Uniform accessories, including belts, buckles and buttons
  • Medals

  Some of the more important objects include:

  • A muster roll from the 1790s
  • Arctic discoveries medal, 1850s
  • Sword belonging to William Wrightson of Cusworth Hall

  Coins, Banknotes and Trade Tokens

  The Coin collection contains around 4,000 coins, of which a percentage are foreign. The collection covers coins and banknotes from the Iron Age to the modern day. The collection of tokens of around 800 is national in scope, with examples from most counties. There are around 70 Trade tokens from the area, particularly from the 1660s.

  Strengths of the collection are:

  • Roman coinage of the Western Empire
  • Trade tokens

  The Museum holds a number of important Roman and Medieval coin hoards and some important small groups of coins, not necessarily classed as hoards. These include:

  Some of the more important objects include

  • An Iron Age Coreiltauvian Stater
  • Harald Hadrada Penny
  • Denarius of Elagabalus

  Archaeology

  Heritage Doncaster has an extensive Archaeology collection consisting of around 15,000 individual items and approximately 5 tonnes of material quantified in bulk (ceramic and building materials, bones etc). Much of the bulk archaeology was generated by excavation in town centre during the 1960s and 1970s. The collections consist almost entirely of material from Doncaster and South Yorkshire, with some holdings from other British sites.

  Strengths of the collection are:

  • The core strengths of the collection lie in the Roman and Medieval (c1100- 1500) periods, with a relatively strong early Prehistoric collection ranging from the early Mesolithic until the early Bronze Age.

  Key major site archives include:

  • • Doncaster (Town Centre) Roman Fort and Vicus
    • Doncaster (Town Centre) Medieval town including Hallgate Potteries and Medieval Quayside developments
    • Roman Potteries:- Rossington Bridge, Cantley and Besacarr, Blaxton and Branton
    • Conisbrough and Tickhill Castle excavation archives
    • Sutton Common
    • Bawtry Church Street
    • Hickleton Church
    • The Humberhead Levels Archaeological Survey

  Some of the more important objects include:

  • • Viking female grave goods
    • Early Bronze Age burial group from Dockinhill
    • Sutton Common ladder

  Rossington dagger

  Antiquities

  The Antiquities collection consists of around 400 pieces of foreign material, particularly from the Classical World of ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt.

  Particular strengths of the collection are:

  • Material from Ancient Egypt
  • Cypriot glass objects

  3.6.3 Some of the more important objects include:

  • Egyptian makeup pallet
  • Egyptian canopic jar
  • Peruvian pot from the Moche civilisation

  World Cultures (Ethnography)

  Heritage Doncaster holds around 3,000 World Cultures objects. There are four main elements to the collection:

  A discreet collection of World Cultures material dating from 1911 – roughly 1980. This comprises of items gifted to the museum in an ad-hoc manner over a period of time.

  A collection gifted to Doncaster Borough Corporation by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in return for the Corporation’s generous support of the Society. This material is of particular interest as it comprises domestic and everyday artefacts.

  A small collection of items from the Imperial Institute.

  Items from the Peake collection (formerly of Bawtry Hall), principally of weapons

  Additionally there is material from ‘CEZMS’ = Church of England Zenana Missionary Society (active in India, Sri Lanka and China) and from the collections of Wakefield Museums (identified by the recorded donor – Richard Van Riel.

  Strengths of the collection are:

  • West African material
  • South (and West) African Beadwork
  • Jewellery – African and Asian
  • Costume/fabrics – particularly Asian (, , SE Asia) and African (Particularly West and )
  • Brasswork – both African and Indian
  • Weaponry – particularly Oceania and Africa

  Some of the more important objects include:

  • Yoruba puppets
  • Nigerian saddle
  • Somalian beadwork platters

  Decorative Art

  The Decorative Art collection contains around 5,000 items, the main categories of which are estimated as follows:

  • Ceramics (about 40% from the Yorkshire potteries) 3,000
  • Jewellery (mostly Hull-Grundy collection) 460
  • Treen 370
  • Textiles (samplers, needlework, lace) 300
  • Glassware 270
  • Metalwork (mostly silver) 170
  • Art medals and medallions 140
  • Other (clocks, watches, enamels, lacquerwork etc) 200

  The ceramic and glass collections include examples of English pottery and glassware from around 1600 to the present, and examples of porcelain from all the major English factories. Other highlights include the small representative collection of Doncaster Gold Cups (horseracing) and the Gerald Shaw collection of treen.

  Strengths of the collections:

  Of greatest significance is Heritage Doncaster’s collection of pieces from the Yorkshire potteries, of which the Heather Lawrence collection forms the centrepiece. Don, Rockingham and other factories are particularly well represented.

  Some of the more important objects include:

  • Elkington table centrepieces, owned by the Jackson family who owned Radiance Toffee
  • Cooke tankard
  • Lalique glass dish

  Fine Art

  The Fine Art collection consists of paintings (oil and watercolour), prints, drawings, sculptures, bronzes and art photographs. There are around 1750 items in the collection in these general categories:

  • Oil paintings 300
  • Watercolours 350
  • Prints 770
  • Drawings 230
  • Sculpture/bronzes 40
  • Art photographs 40

  Significant elements within this collection are watercolours by late 19^th to early 20^th century artists, a collection of etchings and drawings by Frank Brangwyn and prints from 1800-1850. (There are also works of local historical, topographical and biographical interest).

  Some of the more important pieces include:

  • paintings of Alderman William Brooke and his daughter and son-in-law by Joseph Wright of Derby
  • Giants Refreshed by Terence Cuneo

  Horseracing

  The horseracing collections is composed of Fine Art, Decorative Art, Social History material and printed ephemera. These comprise:

  • Racing trophies – particularly from the Doncaster Gold Cup with trophies ranging in date from 1779-1984.
  • Paintings, drawings and engravings of racing at and also of individual horses connected with either the Doncaster Gold Cup or the St Leger. Particularly noteworthy is the collection of racing paintings by J.F. Herring senior.
  • Racing and betting equipment and ephemera such as race cards, silks, tickets and broadsheets.

  Natural Sciences

  There are around 400,000 specimens in the Natural Sciences collection.

  Categories can be broken down approximately as:

  • Mammals (mounted, skins, spirit-preserved, skeletal) 1620
  • Birds (mounted, skins, skeletal, eggs) 10,000
  • Herptiles (mounted and spirit preserved) 400
  • Fish (mounted and spirit-preserved) 200
  • Mollusca (shells only) 200,000
  • Entomology (diptera, coleoptera, hymenoptera, lepidoptera) 160,000
  • Palaeoentomological collections
  • Spirit preserved athropods and other invertebrates 800 tubes
  • Botanical specimens, including algae, fungi and seed plants 6,000
  • The collection includes specimens from the Doncaster Zoo.

  British Mammals – a good representative collection of British species, including an extensive series of skins and associated skulls of some rodents (e.g. mice from coalmines). There is a modest collection of world species, including game heads. Of particular note is a hybrid Quagga foal, a unique mount dating from 1830 by Doncaster taxidermist Hugh Reid.

  Birds and birds’ eggs – a fairly representative world collection, but especially British specimens. Sources from which these have been acquired include local country houses, named skin collectors and modern casualties. The birds’ egg collection is largely from local collectors.

  Herptiles

  There is a modest collection of world species, including specimens from the old Doncaster Zoo.

  Fish – There is a modest collection of fish, which is of wide geographical provenance, although mostly British. The historic taxidermy includes include two Yorkshire Sturgeons and a non-local Tench by J. Cooper & Sons of Hounslow.

  Mollusca

  There are two main collections of molluscs, the collection of J.A. Hargreaves (British species, at least half from ) and the collection of E.M. Morehouse (world species). The strength of the mollusc collection lies in freshwater and land specimens.

  Entomology

  The Lepidoptera collections are mainly of British species. There are also some foreign specimens. Most families are represented in the world Coleoptera collection, which contains the Cerambycidae collection of E.F. Gilmour, including type and figured specimens. The Diptera collection is particularly strong in material from Yorkshire, North Wales and the Scottish Highlands. There are also some exotic Diptera. There is a regionally important collection of British Hymenoptera species, also some foreign specimens. Heritage Doncaster has an important collection of Palaeoentomological specimens, particularly from the Humberhead Levels.

  Spirit-preserved anthropods

  Heritage Doncaster has spirit-preserved British species of insects in their immature stages, ectoparasites (external parasites), Arachnida (spiders etc), Malacostraca (e.g. woodlice), Diplopoda (millipedes), Chilopoda (centipedes) etc.

  Botany

  The Botany collection comprises a small collection of 19^th century, unlocalised seaweeds and a collection of lichens of national scope, Bryophytes, Peridophytes and seed plants. The collection includes a large British collection comprising the H. & J.H. Payne herbarium which is of British scope with a Yorkshire emphasis, the H.H. Corbett herbarium of mainly Doncaster material and also recently-collected material, especially from staff collecting for the Doncaster Plant Recording Project – now the Doncaster Botanical Atlas Project.

  Environmental Records

  Heritage Doncaster has maintained species-based card indexes of all recorded groups of flora and fauna (except birds) since 1963. However these are regarded as a research resource rather than as an accessioned part of the museum collections.

  The collections therefore consist of:

  • The original notebooks and papers of local and regional naturalists, including staff notebooks and natural history societies
  • Annotated floras
  • Local estates and hunting archives relating to property in the area

  Strengths

  • British birds and eggs
  • Local taxidermy
  • Mounted specimens
  • Cerambycidae collection
  • Diptera collection
  • Hyde Collection

  Geology and Palaeontology

  Current collections

  The geology collections are made up of three parts: palaeontology; mineralogy; petrology.

  Palaeontology – The palaeontology collection currently consists of an estimated 3,000+ individual items, mainly from the UK but includes some foreign specimens. The strengths of the collection are based around Carboniferous plant remains, primarily deriving from local deposits across the Doncaster area. The Jurassic Period is well illustrated with many specimens deriving from the Yorkshire coast and beyond.

  Mineralogy – The mineralogy collections are currently made up of two distinctly stored collections: the comprehensive, chemically arranged mineralogy collection; the more recent precious and semi-precious gems.

  Petrology – The petrology (rock) collections are in three parts: igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic petrology. The igneous and metamorphic are discrete collections.

  Strengths of collection

  Perceived strengths of the collection are largely around regional Carboniferous and material. However locally within the borough the Carboniferous collections are not as comprehensive as would be expected.

  Some of the more important specimens include:

  • A near complete ichthyosaur from Dorset
  • A collection of 23 eurypterids from Scotland
  • A dinosaur egg from France
  • Bisat and Culpin collections
  • Shark egg case

  Digital collections

  Heritage Doncaster does not have a digital collection at present, but we are looking to develop this.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2018

  Licence: CC BY-NC