Collection: Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery

Collection-level records:

• Collection overview (Cornucopia)

  Ancient Egyptian and Sudanese Collection

  The museum holds 329 ancient Egyptian objects. Classes of objects represented in the collection include: amulets; canopic jars (lid); coffins (fragments; also cartonnage); flints; jewellery; metal figure; metal vessel; human remains (mummies); papyrus; pottery; ‘Ptah-Sokar-Osiris’ figure; relief sculpture; scarabs; shabtis; stone figures; stone vessels; textiles; toilet articles; tools/weapons; wooden figures. Objects are known to have come from the following locations in Egypt (with the name of the excavator/sponsor and year of excavation given where possible): El Arabeh (Garstang – Egyptian Research Account, 1900); Alexandria; Oxyrhynchus (Egypt Exploration Fund?); Esna (Garstang and Jones – Liverpool University, 1905-1906); Hawara (Petrie, 1888); Heliopolis; Qasr Ibrim (Emery – Egypt Exploration Society, 1961). Objects are known to have come from the following location in Sudan (with the name of the excavator/sponsor and year of excavation given): Sesebi (Blackman – Egypt Exploration Society, 1936-1937).

  Subjects

  Antiquities; Ancient civilizations; Antiquity; Archaeological sites; Archaeological objects; Egyptology; Archaeological excavations

  Medals Collection

  The Hart collection includes 500 military medals and there are also 500 commemorative medallions (see also numismatics).

  Subjects

  Medals

  Photographic Collection

  A collection of 100 photographs by Elizabeth Ashworth and an extensive photographic archive of social and local history related subjects including 6,000 postcards.

  Subjects

  Photography

  Biology Collection

  A small collection of mammals and birds (mounts and study skins), fish, birds eggs, skeleton material, shells, corals, beetles, butterflies and moths (insects mainly from the 19th century Arthur Bowdler collection) and botanical specimen sheets.

  Subjects

  Biology

  Ethnography Collection

  Reverend Ashe Collection of Ethnography, items acquired during the 1880s Benin expedition by the East Lancashire Regiment and other items ranging from Maori artefacts, African masks and carvings, Chinese court costume, pre-Inca ceramics and native American artefacts.

  Subjects

  Ethnography

  Science and Industry Collection

  Commercial material such as the contents of a clogger’s shop and two small printing workshops. Also a substantial collection relating to the history of the cotton industry, including original and replica textile machinery dating from 17th-mid 20th century.

  Subjects

  Science and Industry

  Arms and Armour Collection

  The museum holds around 5000 items relating to the East Lancashire Regiment, 30th Foot, 59th Foot and 2nd Lancashire Rifle Volunteers (collection is owned by the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment). Objects include silver table decorations, ceremonial maces, Regimental uniforms (1790s-1954) and colours, weapons and firearms. Military collections also include some museum-owned material linked to local people.

  Subjects

  Arms and Armour

  Social History Collection

  The museum has a large collection of social history material, mainly pre 1945 and containing over 40,000 items (many are cross-reference to other subject areas such as archives, photographic, industry etc.) There are general domestic items, architectural items, children’s toys and the contents of local shops such as a tobacconist’s. Focus on collecting has been on the development of collections which reflect the history, culture and heritage of Blackburn’s South Asian population (specifically the Gujarat, Punjab and Bangladesh) and a large group of Bollywood film posters has been added to the collection.

  Subjects

  Social History

  Costume and Textile Collection

  A range of costume from c.1830-1945 including men’s and women’s clothes and accessories and individual items belonging to Kathleen Ferrier and local dignitaries. The textile collection includes handloom weaver’s pattern books, 1950s printed cloths and Jacquard samples from local named mills. There is also material from South Asia, mainly acquired since 1990 and including contemporary textiles and costume.

  Subjects

  Costume and Textile

  Numismatics Collection

  The Edward Hart Bequest left to the town in 1946 included many thousand rare coins ranging from 1250 Greek and Greek Imperial coins, 1865 Roman coins, 70 Byzantine, 2125 British coins and 600 trade tokens (see also medals). There are also nearly 2000 coins from Europe and British colonies and banknotes donated as part of the Hornby and Horne collections. Other numismatic material relates to the Cuerdale Hoard and Prestwich Hoard.

  Subjects

  Numismatics

  Decorative and Applied Art Collection

  Ceramics range from 17th century Chinese pieces to early 20th century Lancastria ware decorated by Walter Crane, and includes some local commemorative ware. Sculpture comprises around 30 marble, plaster and bronze busts, mostly of local dignitaries. Ivory statuettes and other carvings also feature in the collection together with a range of metalwork (silver and gilt, replicas, trophy cups, silver and silver-plated tableware). Furniture includes several pieces by Waring and Gillow, a 15th century Flemish cabinet and an Arts and Crafts style oak chest. There are also some sculptures and enamels from the Far East. The collection features a small collection Icons, mainly from Russia and Greece, dating from the 15th-19th century and mainly acquired by Thomas Boys Lewis, a Blackburn cotton manufacturer. Horology includes a wall clock and six long case clocks dating from the 18th and 19th centuries and also a collection of 18th century pocket watches, most representing local makers.

  Subjects

  Decorative and Applied Arts

  Archives Collection

  Archives are comprised of two main collections, the Kathleen Ferrier Archive and material acquired by collector edward Hart. The philately collections include 6 volumes of British and colonial stamps from the Bragg Collection and around 600 Blackburn postal covers. The Kathleen Ferrier Archive chronicles the remarkable life and career of the important 20th century opera star (1912-1953), who has direct associations with Blackburn. Her sister, Winifred, donated the archive. The other important archive in the collection was bequeathed to the town in 1946 by Edward Hart, the son of a local manufacturer along with a large collection of fine art prints, medals and coins. There are 500 books and illuminated manuscripts, which date from the mid-13th century to the early 16th century and include fine works from Persia and Arabia. The wide-ranging archive also features items such as Egyptian hieroglyphs, cuneiform tablets and Hebrew scrolls, a single leaf from the Gutenberg Bible, and several rare books, many with rare bindings including works printed by William Caxton, early editions of Shakespeare plays and a copy of the Kelmscott Chaucer.

  Subjects

  Coins and Medals; Documents (historic); Opera; Collections; People (musical); Fine Art; Archives; Ancient Egypt; Documents (personal)

  Fine Art Collection

  Oil and watercolour paintings from 17th century to present. There are also Greek and Russian Orthodox icons, the T B Lewis Bequest of Japanese woodcut prints, a small collection of pen and ink drawings by John Sharples and posters of Bombay Talkies movies. The museum has a collection of over 250 easel paintings, mainly of the 19th century and depicting themes such as animals, landscape. Animal painters include artists such as J F Herring, Thomas Sidney Cooper, Richard Ansdell and well-known bird painter Archibald Thorburn. There are also many exceptional classical Victorian works including ‘Cherries’ by Frederic, Lord Leighton, ‘Diana or Christ?’ by Edwin Long and Albert Moore’s ‘The Loves of the Winds and the Seasons’. A small number of European, mainly Dutch, works also feature in the collection and range from the 17th to 19th century. The watercolour collection includes 330 works by all the typical artists of the 19th and early 20th century including Turner, Samuel Palmer, David Cox, William Hunt, and Thomas Girtin. Prints include the John Sharples archive of local material and total over 500 works. The Hart Collection contains an important group of 1,000 Japanese prints representing the major artists associated with Ukiyoe prints (meaning ‘images of the floating world’) such as Hokusai, Hiroshige, Utamaro, Shunsho and Harunobu. The prints depict actors, landscapes, famous courtesans, daily life and myth and legend.

  Subjects

  Watercolours; Paintings; Fine Art; Prints

  Source: Cornucopia

  Date: Not known, but before 2015

  Licence: CC BY-NC