Collection: Fife Cultural Trust

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  The collections managed by the Trust and owned by Fife Council, were brought together in 1996 from three former District Council Museums services within Fife. In 1998 Fife Council additionally took on responsibility for Methil Heritage Centre and its collection.

  In October 2012 Fife Cultural Trust (OnFife) was established. The Trust delivers Museum, Library, Archive, Theatre and Arts services on behalf of Fife Council in accordance with a Services Agreement, for a management fee. Fife Council retains ownership of buildings and collections, including the museum collections covered by this policy.

  Also in 2012 a new collections management system (EMu) was acquired and has now become a core tool for assisting with management and care of museum collections, as well as access to information and images. This system is updated to remain consistent, robust and responsive to changing digital needs in the sector and for public access.

  In 2017 a new Collections Centre was set up at Bankhead in Glenrothes through capital investment. Having previously been dispersed over six museum stores across Fife, the majority of the museum collections are now stored there. The museum objects are stored together with the Archive collection managed by the Trust. This has enabled greatly improved collections care management and public access for research, learning and enjoyment.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2024

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  The Trust has responsibility for the stewardship and development of Museum collections in the ownership of Fife Council.

  The Museum collections comprise over 119,000 artefacts, photographs, documents, specimens and works of art. (The breakdown of numbers of items in the collections listed below are those recorded on our museum management system EMu in November 2023.)

  These form a major part of the social and cultural heritage of Fife and include material that is important locally, nationally and internationally.

  ARCHAEOLOGY

  Number of items: 18,201

  The Trust manages a significant collection of Fife material, particularly strong in pre-history, including material transferred in 1988 from the University of St Andrews Department of Archaeology. Examples are Bronze Age food vessels and cinerary urns, flint arrowheads, stone axeheads and rare jet necklaces.

  In 2022 a collaborative project with the University of Glasgow, Greener Kirkcaldy and the Kirkcaldy Old Kirk Trust led to a programme of community events commemorating the archaeological dig on Kirkcaldy High Street in the 1980s. A food vessel from the dig was conserved as part of this project. Ongoing research is enhancing our knowledge of this discovery.

  The small medieval collection features important medieval pilgrim badges discovered since 1998. In recent decades most archaeological acquisitions have been made through the Treasure Trove process, with finds being allocated through the Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel (SAFAP) at National Museums Scotland (NMS). Many small metal finds discovered by metal detectorists have been purchased through Treasure Trove in this way.

  ARCHIVES

  Number of items: 19,763

  The Museum collections managed by the Trust includes an archive of various types of paper documents, maps and plans that relate to local people, industries and organisations, dating mainly from the 19th and 20th centuries. Included are books from Adam Smith’s library, archives from Douglas & Grant (Kirkcaldy engineers) and the 1980s coal mining strike. Also included are records from the Dunfermline Hammermen, Pathhead Feuars and Linktown Weavers societies. Recent major acquisitions include archives of the Forbo linoleum company, the Adam Smith Theatre, McIntosh furniture company and the Kirkcaldy Naturalists Society.

  ARTEFACTS

  Number of items: 45,215

  These form the largest single group of objects and can be divided into the following areas:

  SOCIAL & INDUSTRIAL HISTORY

  The majority of objects fall into this broad category and the bulk of these date from the late 19th century onwards.

  Many of these objects tell the story of people’s homes, recreational and social lives – from general domestic objects to unique items such as Cardenden-born Celtic goalkeeper John Thomson’s jumper.

  In 2020-2021 the Trust ran the Fife in Lockdown project collecting the intangible and tangible history of a unique period with Covid-19 affecting the lives of everyone in Fife and beyond. Physical objects and archives were added to the collection, along with supplementary digital images and memories as part of the contemporary collecting project.

  Many objects also tell the story of people’s working lives and the products they made. The linen, linoleum, coal mining and pottery collections contain a wealth of material that forms an important part of Scotland’s industrial history. The Dunfermline linen and Kirkcaldy linoleum collections, especially, form an invaluable record of the designs and products made in Fife. With 2-year funding from the Esmeé Fairbairn Collections Fund, the Trust appointed an Engagement Curator from in 2022 to undertake Flooring the World: The Fife Linoleum Industry. This project led to an enhancement of the scope and significance of the linoleum collection held by the Trust.

  The collection of pottery includes unique examples of the products of the four Kirkcaldy potteries. In recent years, the Museum Collections team has been working closely with the Fife Pottery Society to help identify more interesting and important pieces in the collection to feature in the glass fronted storage cabinets at OnFife Collections Centre in Bankhead.

  Fife’s trade with northern Europe is revealed through the collection of over 300 Russian lead seals that were attached to imported flax bales – this forms the largest collection held in the UK of these unusual objects.

  Some of the collections are from periods of military conflict, the majority coming from the Second World War. This includes 200 items that came from the Polish forces based in Fife in that period.

  BANNERS

  A collection of 90 banners, carried by workers, groups and societies in Fife is held. These include Free Gardeners’ Society banners. Also notable are the five floorcloth banners carried by linoleum workers in processions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. No other floorcloth banners are known to have survived from this era. The collection includes banners made and carried by miners in the 1984/85 strike, a banner made for the first Fife Pride march in 2017, and a banner featured in PROCESSIONS, a mass participation artwork to celebrate one hundred years of votes for women.

  COSTUME

  The Trust manages a large collection of 19th and 20th century costume (around 8,000 items), mainly women’s and children’s clothing and accessories. Male costume is represented mostly by military and civic uniforms.

  A documentation project, financially supported by Museums Galleries Scotland from 2004 to 2008, led to more accurate knowledge of the size and scope of the costume collection. During this project we established that the Trust holds around 10% of all costume deposited in Scottish local authority museums.

  WORLD CULTURE

  The Trust manages a small collection (around 1,000 items) reflecting World Cultures, collected by local people through 19th century Scottish emigration and activities linked to empire and colonisation. As such, the collection represents a significant historical record. This includes a carved wooden Tabwa throne (from what is now Zambia), a janiform mask from Nigeria and a group of Chimu and Inca pottery from Peru.

  Knowledge and documentation of parts of this collection have been improved through research partnerships with National Museums Scotland (NMS). In 2018, a collection of around 350 objects from East Asia were reviewed and in 2023 a review of the African collections was undertaken with NMS, African museum professionals, academics, and diaspora representatives from across Scotland. The review highlighted objects which, with further funded research, could be proposed for return to their countries or cultures of origin.

  The Trust is committed to tackling and sharing publicly the challenging histories revealed through our collections through such research and understanding contemporary legacies of empire, colonialism and historic slavery.

  NUMISMATICS

  Number of items: 7,292

  The Trust manages a collection of coins, Scottish trade tokens, Fife communion tokens, local and national military and commemorative medals. A selection of medieval and Roman coins and coin hoards have been acquired through the Treasure Trove process. In 2023 we acquired a rare Malcolm IV penny, found near Aberdour, funded by the National Fund for Acquisitions and the Art Fund.

  FINE ART

  Number of items: 2,191

  The art collection managed by the Trust is primarily from the 19th and 20th century but also contains some notable 18th century and contemporary works. The oldest artwork is a painting thought to be from Florence in the 1520s. It is almost evenly divided between oil paintings and works of art on paper and includes 72 of pieces of sculpture. The collection contains works of national and international significance.

  The collection contains works from three main categories:

  Scottish art: This forms most of the collection. Included are two particularly outstanding groups of work:

  • 46 paintings and drawings by the Scottish Colourist S J Peploe, including the largest collection of his oils (38) in the world and 34 paintings by the Scottish landscape and seascape artist William McTaggart, the second largest collection outwith the National Galleries of Scotland.
  • Eminent women artists such as Elizabeth Blackadder, Frances Walker, Anne Redpath and Marian Leven are also represented in the collection.

  More recent acquisitions included (in 2020) The Song of Silenus by Dunfermline-born Sir Joseph Noel Paton, purchased with financial support from the National Fund for Acquisitions and the Art Fund. In 2023 a collection of contemporary works was donated through the Cultural Gifts Scheme from a private individual. These works are by John Bellany, Ken Currie, Callum Innes and Alison Watt and Nathan Coley. Works have also been acquired with financial support from the Friends of Kirkcaldy Galleries.

  Non – Scottish art: A small number of English and European paintings, including work by L S Lowry, Eugene Boudin, John Martin and the Camden Town Group. The majority of this collection was purchased from the estate of John W. Blyth (Kirkcaldy industrialist, collector and Convener of the Art Gallery’s sub-committee for almost four decades) in 1964. There are also number of donations from other individuals, organisations, and former local authority collections.

  Local art: Local views, portraits and scenes and work by local artists such as James Marshall Dickson (Lochgelly), Andrew Blair (Dunfermline), May Hutchison, Audrey Waugh and many more.

  NATURAL HISTORY

  Number of items: 7,371

  The Trust manages a relatively small, mostly unprovenanced collection including botany, geology and zoology. There are a small number of important specimens, including fossil fish from Dura Den in North East Fife first identified by the Rev Dr John Anderson of Newburgh. Between 2019 and 2021 work with an expert volunteer helped improve knowledge of the fossil collection. The Trust also participated in the NMS/John Ellerman Foundation Review of Fossil Collections in Scotland. During this project, 49 fossils were photographed. The Trust took part in the herbaria collections survey in 2023, initiated by The McManus Art Gallery & Museum, Dundee, which may lead to digitisation and a further research project in the coming years.

  PHOTOGRAPHS

  Number of items: 19,184

  The Trust manages a collection of photographic images including prints, slides, glass plates and lantern slides. Strengths include the work of Newburgh photographer, Andrew Robertson (late 19th century to 1950s), James and John Patrick of Leven, Moodie of East Wemyss, glass negatives of photographer Robert Galloway Brand (1872 – 1941) and local views collected by McNaughton in the 1950s. In 2023, a collection of 377 photographs of 1960s Dunfermline by renowned photographer Joseph McKenzie were transferred from the ownership of Carnegie Dunfermline Trust to the Museum collection managed by Fife Cultural Trust.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2024

  Licence: CC BY-NC