Collection: York Museums Trust

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  General

  The collections managed by York Museums Trust (YMT) have their origins in the 17^th century. Private and civic collections held within the city began to amass as intellectual curiosity and interest in archaeology, art, history and natural sciences increased across North Yorkshire. Throughout the 19^th and 20^th centuries these collections came together within a number of York-based organisations. The collections of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society (YPS) and York Corporation were exhibited within three institutions, The Yorkshire Museum and the Yorkshire Museum Gardens (YM and YMG), York Art Gallery (YAG) and York Castle Museum (YCM).

  The collections of all three institutions grew in size and stature under the ownership of City of York Council (CYC). The combined collections of CYC gained Designated status¹ in 1997. York Museums Trust was founded in 2002 to manage the museum buildings, gardens and collections on behalf of City of York Council. YMT is a registered charity and company limited by guarantee.

  The museum sites each hold a unique place in British museum history:

  Yorkshire Museum

  The third oldest purpose-built museum in UK.

  Played an integral role in the establishment of some of most important organisations within the museum sector, hosting the first meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1831) and the inaugural meeting of the Museums Association (1889).

  The Yorkshire Museum opened to members of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society in 1830 to display its ever-increasing natural science collections. In 1847, the Yorkshire Museum Gardens were laid out and included a half-timbered building known as the Hospitium in which the Yorkshire Philosophical Society displayed its archaeology and ethnography collections.

  Important local collectors, and generally members of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, such as Backhouse, Cook, Monkman and Mitchelson, donated or sold their collections to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society. Although a private museum, the Yorkshire Museum became the repository for the city of York’s archaeology from the mid-nineteenth century onwards. In 1960, the Yorkshire Philosophical Society gifted the Yorkshire Museum, Yorkshire Museum Gardens and their collections to York Corporation (now City of York Council). Museum staff along with members of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society and other local collectors continued to add to the Yorkshire Museum’s archaeology and natural science collections. The 1974 municipal boundary changes resulted in the Yorkshire Museum being transferred to North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) and gaining a County Museum status before being returned to City of York Council control in 1996. Between 1984 and 1987 the archaeology, ethnography and architectural collections were transferred from the Hospitium building into the main museum. In 2010 the museum underwent a major refurbishment, during which much of the original architecture was re-exposed and the visitor offer refreshed with a new layout and new Archaeology and Natural Science displays.

  York Castle Museum

  Kirkgate is the original prototype for reconstructed streetscapes as a means of contextual display of museum collections.

  York Castle Museum was opened in 1937 by York Corporation. The social history collections that formed its core were housed in York’s Female Prison, built in 1780 and was vacated as a prison in 1930. At the core of this museum were the collections of Dr John Lamplugh Kirk and, latterly, John Bowes Morrell. A second building, the adjacent Debtors’ Prison, was added to YCM in 1951. This was used to display the military collections of Edward Timperley, Dr John Lamplugh Kirk and local regiments alongside large vehicles, costume and textiles.

  The Designation Scheme identifies the pre-eminent collections of national and international importance held in ‘s non-national museums, libraries and archives, based on their quality and significance. These collections represent a vital part of ‘s national cultural and artistic heritage.

  York Art Gallery

  Used throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries for a wide range of social and cultural functions and exhibitions from All in Wrestling to hosting the first ever recreated street display as a temporary exhibition.

  Internationally recognised as a pre-eminent centre for twentieth century British studio ceramics.

  In 1878, the permanent Fine Art and Industrial Exhibition building opened to the public. This new building held on an annual basis very successful temporary exhibitions. In 1882, John Burton, a local collector, donated his important collection of over 100 paintings to the Fine Art and Industrial Exhibition Committee. In 1892, the building and its newly formed collection were sold to York Corporation and became known as the City Art Gallery. Important bequests from F.D. Lycett Green, Dr W.A. Evelyn and the Very Reverend Milner-White were added to the gallery’s collection which continues to grow.

  In 2015, York Art Gallery reopened following a major redevelopment. This increased display space by 60% and incorporated a new, second entrance at the rear of the building, leading to a balcony and new landscaped gardens; an upgraded fine art store; improved access and visitor facilities.

  All the museums occupy listed buildings and are in part comprised of or are surrounded by scheduled ancient monuments. The Yorkshire Museum building (1830) was designed by William Wilkins who later designed the National Gallery while John Carr designed The Female Prison (1780), now part of York Castle Museum.

  The three museum sites managed by YMT have been awarded Full Accreditation with the Arts Council of England’s Museum Accreditation Scheme, the national standard for museums in the United Kingdom.

  For the detailed history of the museums and their collections see:

  Green, R., 1991, York City Art Gallery: An Illustrated Guide

  Pyrah, B.J., 1988, The History of the Yorkshire Museum and its Geological Collections

  York Castle Museum Guidebooks (1970s – 1990s)

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: Not known

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  Archaeology

  The archaeology collection represents the primary material record for the archaeology of the City of York, its hinterlands and the wider region, from its beginnings to modern day. It is an important resource for engagement and research, allowing us to reflect on our heritage and deepen our collective knowledge of the past.

  The collection is one of the largest and most comprehensive of its type outside of London and represents an important resource of urban and rural archaeology. The collection includes approximately 100,000 individually registered objects, 8,000 boxes of bulk excavated material (mostly pottery and animal bone), 1,300 boxes of human skeletal remains and over 1,000 boxes of associated paper archival material.

  The collection has developed over the last 200 years. The historic core of the collection is formed of objects collected by members of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society and their antiquarian networks in the 19^th and early 20^th century. This has been augmented through the acquisition of private collections, chance finds made by members of the public (mostly ‘Treasure’ found by metal detectorists), and excavation archives.

  The Yorkshire Museum played an important role in the development of professional archaeological excavation in York in the 1970s and material found as part of such excavations has been collected since this time. The Yorkshire Museum has formally acted as the archaeological repository for the City of York and much of North Yorkshire since the expansion of develop-led archaeology in the early 1990s. Material from archaeological archives, primarily from commercial excavations forms an ever-increasing element of the collection. Whilst many archives have been physically added to the Yorkshire Museum’s collections, the majority of the archaeological archive collection is dispersed across many excavating units. The Yorkshire Museum has a backlog of at least 600 archaeological archives that have already been given a YMT accession number and are still to be collected. It is expected that the true number is significantly higher and further research is needed in this area.

  Subject or themes

  The archaeology collection is rooted in local stories. It traces the changing nature of the city and region, and the lives of the people who were here, through time.

  By its very nature, the collection provides the evidence for curators, interperters and visitors to tell the individual stories of people from the past, from the ordinary to the truly spectacular, through the material traces they left behind. The human skeletal collection contains the remains of more than 2,000 individuals which hold the evidence of Yorkshire’s past population.

  Iconic objects demonstrate the significance of the city, region and its people throughout history and excavated material from internationally important site archives allows us to build up a broader picture of everyday life in the past. This body of evidence highlights York’s role as a political, religious and commercial centre of great importance for the last 2,000 years.

  The collection includes rare-to-survive organic material, preserved in York’s waterlogged soil or in the peat at Star Carr. This exceptional material allows us to glimpse aspects of life that are invisible in other areas of the country.

  Time periods

  The collection tells the story of the past 100,000 years in Yorkshire, with a strength in the last 2,000 and the Mesolithic period (c. 11,000 years ago).

  Prehistory

  The highlight of the prehistoric collection is the large amount of material from Star Carr, an internationally significant Mesolithic site with excellent organic preservation. The unique objects from this site give us an insight into the complex beliefs and practices of people living in Yorkshire 11,000 years ago. This site archive forms the primary record of a Scheduled Ancient Monument being lost.

  The Bronze Age is well represented by pottery vessels and grave goods from barrow burials across North Yorkshire. The collection also includes a gold ring and bracelet from Thirsk, the most northerly Bronze Age gold from Britain.

  Yorkshire’s unique and varied Iron Age cultures are represented by objects from iconic burials at Arras in East Yorkshire and the Oppidum at Stanwick. We also have spectacular chance finds such as two gold torcs from Towton.

  Roman

  Our Roman collections are some of the largest and most significant in the country. The core of the collection comes from the fortress, colonia and cemeteries of Eboracum, the Capital of the Roman North. These include spectacular historic finds and wider collections that speak to wide-ranging themes of daily life and work, identity, religion and belief, the Roman frontier army, materials and trade, and connectedness to the wider empire.

  York was home to three Roman Emperors and objects in the collection shed light on a time when the empire’s eye focussed on Northern Britain. This includes head pots of Julia Domna and Caracalla, the family of Emperor Septimius Severus, and the marble head of a colossal statue of the Emperor Constantine hastily erected after his proclamation as Emperor here in York.

  The collection also speaks to the diversity of York’s past population and skeletal remains, backed up by data from 21st-century scientific analysis, tell us the individual biographies of Roman people living in Yorkshire.

  The collection also includes a wealth of the material from urban and rural settlements in York’s hinterlands, the most important being the fort town of Cataractonium and material from a Roman conquest period settlement at Scotch Corner.

  Anglian

  The earliest phases of the Anglian period can be viewed through large collections of material from cemetery sites in the environs of York and in the wider region such as Uncleby and Cheesecake Hill. Outstanding objects such as the Escrick Ring, Gilling Sword and York Helmet demonstrate the power, wealth and connectedness of the kingdom of Northumbria and its precursors. Material from Fishergate allows us to glimpse the changing nature of the city in the 8^th century through local products and exotic import from the trading hub of Eoforwic.

  Anglo-Scandinavian

  The collection includes internationally important evidence for everyday life, crafting and trade in a Viking town from Clifford Street and the famous Coppergate excavations. A large collection of carved stonework demonstrates the artistic preferences and changing beliefs of Yorkshire’s Viking population.

  The wider Viking impact on Yorkshire is evidenced through spectacular individual finds from the region including the Bedale Hoard and Vale of York Hoard (owned jointly with the British Museum).

  Medieval

  The collection includes material from important York sites, including the two castles and many parish churches. One highlight is the large collection of material associated with St Mary’s Abbey, the richest abbey in the north of England, including beautifully preserved 12^th century life-size statues of saints and apostles and the St Mary’s Abbey Figure of Christ.

  Spectacular individual finds, such as the Middleham Jewel and Fulford Ring, are nationally significant examples of elite craftspersonship and demonstrate the wealth and significance of the region during the medieval period.

  The medieval collection speaks to the themes of institutional and personal religion, trade, commerce and manufacture, and personal adornment and dress. Several objects tell the story of individuals such as the York Boar Badge worn by a wealthy follower of King Richard III.

  History of archaeology

  The collections also allow us to trace the social history of archaeological collecting and the development of archaeology as a discipline from its early history to the present day. This is apparent in the changing character and composition of the collection over time and the archival material (photographs, drawings and written records) created by archaeologists themselves.

  The collection includes material associated with important Yorkshire archaeologists and local collectors including Thomas Boynton, George Wilmott, Peter Wenham, Jeffrey Radley, William Lamplough and John Lidster, and Nicky Milner and modern archaeological companies working throughout the region.

  Geography

  The core of the archaeology collection comes from the City of York, with an ever-increasing proportion from North Yorkshire. A lesser proportion comes from the wider Yorkshire area, primarily East Yorkshire.

  There are comparatively few objects from elsewhere in the UK or from abroad. The strength of the foreign archaeological collections includes a small but significant group of Egyptian artefacts, and prehistoric flint and metalwork from mainland Europe.

  There is also a small ethnographic collection numbering fewer than 50 objects.

  Biology

  The biological collections at YMT are the only such collections within York, and, with up to half a million specimens, the largest amongst only a very small number of similar collections within North Yorkshire. The collections are centred on Yorkshire but reflect the origins of the Yorkshire Museum in their worldwide reach. They are very broad, containing specimens from almost all groups of animal and plant life, and trace the biodiversity of Yorkshire over nearly 200 years, including many sites that are no longer accessible.

  The collecting interests and skills of individuals, as well as YPS agendas, are reflected in the make-up particularly of the earlier acquisitions. As such, then as now, the collections are focussed on Yorkshire, but have responded to wider issues both nationally and internationally and engaged with emerging research to further our knowledge of the natural world.

  Subjects or themes

  There are around 400,000 specimens in total, with the majority being insects and spiders. The herbarium consists of around 50,000 specimens (mainly sheets of flowering plants), there are around 30,000 mollusc shells, over 10,000 birds (including over 3000 eggs), and around 1500 other animals (mammals, fish, amphibians and reptiles as taxidermy, osteology and wet collections). There are also several thousand glass plate slides of largely biological subjects, taken by the noted Yorkshire photographer Sydney Smith (1884-1958).

  Internationally significant specimens include two mounted great auks (of only around 70 extant worldwide), an almost complete south island giant moa skeleton (parts of which were sent to Richard Owen to assist him in describing the species for the first time), four passenger pigeons (including one brought live from New York by John James Audubon) and some of the first dodo bones to be brought back to Britain in the modern era.

  Alongside significant individual specimens are comprehensive collections by amateur and professional naturalists, with rich biological and historical data. The collections are particularly strong in Yorkshire spiders (Clifford Smith’s collection), moths (Archie Heron’s collection) and fungi (Willis Bramley’s collection), and we have one of the finest beetle collections in the country, with 80,000 British specimens (Herbert Willoughby Ellis collection). We also hold much associated material, such as diaries and notebooks, which contain crucial information on the specimens, as well as more personal stories of the collectors and their lives.

  Time period

  The collections are contemporaneous, from the founding of the YPS in 1822 through to the present day. Some specimens predate the founding of the YPS, through donations of sets of specimens.

  Geography

  The majority of material is from Yorkshire (North, South, East and West), although there are important specimens acquired historically from national and international sources.

  Costume and Textiles

  The collection initially reflected Dr Kirk’s interests – fans, shoe-buckles, purses, scent-bottles, parasols, etc. It was then substantially added to through the work of the deputy curator, Violet Rodgers (later Wlock). Collecting lapsed in the 1960s but was resumed, on a systematic basis, in the mid-1970s. Since then, the collection has been extensively expanded. For example, there has been active collecting of twentieth-century material, which has resulted in a comprehensive collection of 1950s to 1980s costume. The collection of costumes and textiles housed at York Castle Museum is internationally known and designated as nationally important. Consisting of some 30,000 items, it is one of the largest regional collections in the country.

  The scope and size of the collection enables it to illustrate all the major shifts and trends in Western European fashion from the eighteenth century to the 1990s. Both the costume and the textile collections represent not only individual taste, and its development, but also the influence of mass production, increased prosperity, and the growth of textile technology. The collection also illustrates the changing place of textile crafts in the home as they became leisure pursuits rather than necessary skills. This is particularly well-illustrated in the quilt collection and in the outstanding collection of embroidered pictures.

  Subjects or Themes

  The costume and textiles collection covers primarily, but not exclusively English and some Western European fashion with an especial strength in middle class everyday clothing, particularly women’s daywear from c.1770 to the late twentieth century. The earliest items are accessories, both worn and carried. The earlier objects are more likely to be very high status, with middle class items appearing more frequently during the C18th and dominating the C19th and C20th sections of the collection. Domestic textiles are mostly middle class and begin in the C17th, with an especial strength in mid-to-late nineteenth-century items.

  Areas of strength within the costume and textiles collection include:

  • Women’s outerwear
  • Includes examples of all major and many minor mainstream fashions from 1770 to the 1990s, with some earlier examples and subculture items.
  • Women’s Underwear and shapewear
  • Strong representation for the Victorian period and the twentieth century with some notable earlier examples.
  • Children’s clothing
  • Dates range from the early C18th to the early C21st.
  • Shoes
  • Mostly women’s shoes. Includes over 80 pairs of men’s shoes, over 100 pairs of children’s shoes, and 55 pairs of protective overshoes and clogs. A broad range of styles is represented and dating ranges from the mid-C17th to the early C21st.
  • Accessories
  • Consisting of hats and caps.
  • Jewellery is very well represented consisting of costume jewellery and semi-precious stones.
  • An excellent selection of carried accessories. These include fans, gloves, umbrellas and parasols, and purses and bags.
  • Domestic textiles. The patchwork, sampler and quilting collections are internationally known. There is also a wide selection of other domestic textiles dating from the C17th to the early C21st, and a strong selection of needlecraft equipment dating from the C18th to the late C20th and patterns dating from the very late C19th and early-to-mid C20th.
  • Dolls. This collection also includes an important collection of dolls and doll clothing dating from the C18th to the C21st.

  Time Period

  The costume and textiles collection covers the period from c.1500 until the present day, although there are significant gaps relating to the 16^th and 17^th centuries detailed in the previous section.

  Geography

  The costume and textiles collection covers primarily, but not exclusively English and some Western European fashion. The collection is nationally representative with strengths in regional and local material.

  Decorative Arts

  The Decorative Art collection is a material-based collection, the majority of which consists of ceramics, glass and metals, with small amounts of organic material such as textiles and paper. It comprises approximately 12,300 objects with the Anthony Shaw loan amounting to an additional 1,600 objects. Large parts of the collections have come from private collectors. Pre 20^th century collections of English, Continental and oriental ceramics were acquired from collectors including Morrell, Hurst, Boynton and Long. Significant collections of 20^th century British studio ceramics were acquired from the collectors Milner-White, Ismay and Rothschild. We also have the Anthony Shaw Collection on loan for 15 years.

  Subjects or themes

  Our ceramics collections include the collections of British studio ceramics created by the Very Reverend Milner-White, W.A. Ismay and Henry Rothschild. We also have on long loan, the Anthony Shaw Collection. These are supplemented by donations to and acquisitions by YMT. These collections combined offer a survey of the British studio ceramic movement from the early 20^th century to the present day and feature work by more than 500 artists.The loaned Anthony Shaw Collection consists primarily of late 20^th century studio ceramics, but also includes other examples of craft and art and some archival material, along with furniture and furnishings to support its display in a domestic fashion (loan ends March 2026). The Milner-White and Ismay collections are supported by archival material, as is the Anthony Shaw collection. We acquired the archive of Alan and Pat Firth in 2015, who collected late 20^th century craft (mainly ceramics, and jewellery).

  We also have large holdings of pre 20^th century ceramics, both handmade and factory produced. These include large holdings of material from Yorkshire based potteries (including Leedsware, Rockingham); Dutch and English Delftware; English and Continental factory ceramics; oriental ceramics; Southern Italian ceramics; late 19^th century art pottery; English country pottery; and 20^th century factory wares.

  The glass collection comprises of stained glass by the York artists William Peckitt, Henry Gyles and John Ward Knowles and other unattributed works. There is also a collection of early English wine bottles, and English and Continental drinking glasses. The W.A. Ismay collection contains a small capsule collection of British studio glass from the late 1960s/early 1970s.

  The metal collection contains examples of silver produced in York and Yorkshire. There is also a collection of pewter items.

  Time period

  The collections cover a broad time period from prehistory through to present day.

  Geography

  The collection is mostly of British provenance though some European, Asian, African and American items have been acquired through gifts from collectors and further items have been acquired in support of core themes in the collection.

  Fine Art

  The fine art collection is made up from several important individual collections: The John Burton Collection of paintings; Dr W.A. Evelyn’s Collection of topographic works of art on paper; The F.D. Lycett Green Collection of pre-1800 European paintings; a group of early 20^th century British Impressionist paintings; and a large number of additional acquisitions.

  The collection includes some 1,000 oil paintings, 14,000 works on paper and 100 sculptures. There are also several digital moving image works. A collection of late 19^th century and early 20^th century British designs for published illustrations was presented by James Tillotson Hyde in 1962 and there is a small collection of approximately 150 Japanese prints. There is a small group of mainly British sculptures, many of which have been acquired through the Contemporary Art Society.

  Subjects or themes

  The fine art collection aims to provide a survey of post-medieval art, including painting, works on paper, photography, sculpture, mixed-media, moving image and performance.

  A comprehensive works on paper collection with appropriate local emphasis is based around a collection of York views purchased from Dr W.A. Evelyn.

  Particular strengths in the collection lie in, but are not limited to, the following groups: 14^th-15^th century Italian gold ground panels, 17^th century Dutch Golden Age paintings, 18^th century British portraiture and Victorian genre painting.

  York Art Gallery houses the largest number of sketches, studies and paintings by York-born artist William Etty (1787-1849). There is good representation of British painting from the first half of the 20^th century and some examples of abstract painting from the 1970s and 1980s.

  Contemporary collecting is focused on the theme of the human body but is not limited to this.

  Time period

  The Fine Art collection covers work from the 14^th century to the present day.

  Geography

  The collection primarily focuses on Western art, therefore most works are British and European (particularly Dutch, Flemish, Italian, French, Spanish, German), with some examples from further afield (e.g., North America). There is also a good group of around 150 18^th and 19^th century Japanese prints, with some Chinese examples.

  The nucleus of the works on paper collection is a large group of prints, drawings and watercolours depicting the topography of York and surrounding area.

  Geology

  The importance of York and Yorkshire in the history of geology cannot be overstated. The geological collections are rooted in the early 19^th century, in a golden age of scientific enquiry and discovery. The Yorkshire Philosophical Society was established in 1822 after the discovery of the hyena den Kirkdale Cave, near Kirkbymoorside. The remains of elephants, giant deer, bison and other exotic animals caused shockwaves in the scientific community when William Buckland, the first professor of geology at the University of Oxford, published on the cave in 1822, and presented his findings that the exotic animals had lived and died on the site in North Yorkshire, and not been washed thousands of miles by the Great Flood.

  As well as the luminaries that corresponded with the YPS and its members (such as Charles Darwin), material was donated by almost every eminent geologist of the 1800s, including Etheldred Benett, Charles Lyell, William Smith, and William Conybeare, amongst many others. This reflects the exciting development of the science, and York’s standing in the national (and in some cases international) community. John Phillips was the first Keeper of the Yorkshire Museum. He went on to do pioneering work on geological time, was prolific in many scientific fields, and worked in London and Oxford, while retaining strong links to the YPS. He lived onsite at what is now St Marys Lodge with his sister Anne, also a talented geologist, for many years.

  Since the foundation of the collections, we have continued to collect high quality specimens from across Yorkshire’s rich geological sites, reflecting the continued importance of the geology of Yorkshire on the world stage, and ongoing research.

  Subjects or themes

  Today, there are around 125,000 specimens of palaeontology, mineralogy, petrology and photography, which are mostly from Yorkshire but some national and international sources.

  The palaeontology collections number over 100,000. Significant palaeontological specimens include around 1000 type and figured specimens, amongst these one of the largest mostly complete ichthyosaurs known, the type specimen of the Lower Jurassic Temnodontosaurus crassimanus. We hold around 10,000 Jurassic fossils and are particularly strong in Lower Jurassic marine reptiles and invertebrates, and Middle Jurassic plants. These are strengthened by over 2000 belemnites, (Richard Moore collection), and nearly 1000 plants (Ron Williams collection) from classic sites across North Yorkshire. We also hold collections from Speeton (Jack Doyle collection), a nationally significant Lower Cretaceous site. Alongside around 600 specimens from Kirkdale Cave, we have a large collection of Teesdale Cave material, and smaller collections from caves in the Yorkshire Dales and beyond, such as Victoria Cave, and Kent’s Cavern in Devon. Material dredged from the North Sea is also well represented. We also hold one of the best collections of material from the Red Crag Formation in Suffolk.

  Mineralogy and petrology collections, containing 5,500 and 7,500 specimens respectively, are made up of UK and worldwide material. They include reference collections for Yorkshire, the Greenbank Collection of display-quality mineral specimens from the North of England, and the petrology collection of the Yorkshire academic Bernard Hobson, meticulously assembled during the course of his worldwide travels.

  The Tempest Anderson (1846-1913) glass plate slide collection comprises around 5000 items, which document volcanic eruptions and their aftermath on landscapes and communities around the world, from the late 1800s to 1913.

  Notable objects include the Middlesbrough Meteorite, which fell to Earth in 1881, witnessed by some railway workers, and a small map collection. The latter includes an original William Smith geological map of England and Wales and one of only three known copies of the 1823 geological map of Bath by Conybeare and Henry de la Beche.

  Time period

  The whole of Earth history is covered in the collection, beginning with the Middlesbrough Meteorite at 4.6 billion years old, following right through to the Pleistocene Ice Ages, at only a few hundred thousand years old, with cave and glacial material. Reflecting regional geology, we have extensive material from the Carboniferous onwards, but far less from the earlier Palaeozoic.

  Geography

  The historic collections are very strong in high quality material from across the UK (mostly Yorkshire) and in some cases the world. Later work has built on this in continuing to acquire high quality specimens from the north of England.

  YM Historic Book Collection

  The Yorkshire Museum Historic Book Collection was established by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society in 1822 alongside its specimen and artefact collections, together forming a rich resource for the scientific study of the natural world and human history. Numbering around 10,000 volumes, it is formed of the significant academic library put together for the use of YPS members. A large proportion was gifted or exchanged by the authors, often YPS members themselves, meaning the books have the potential to trace the circle of influence of this well-respected Society, over and above their printed content. As well as printed books and pamphlets, there are a number of unique manuscripts and other miscellanea which tell the story of the YPS, its library and its members. William Reed bequeathed a significant number of books as well as a fund (now realised) to purchase more books and journals on palaeontology. Tempest Anderson’s collection of volcanology books is also present, including several copies of his seminal ‘Volcanic Studies’, and his large scrapbooks, filled with cuttings on his worldwide travels.

  Subjects or themes

  The collection mirrors the development of the YPS, as it was amassed to support its interests and burgeoning natural science and antiquity collections. There are early volumes tracing the birth of new scientific fields such as astronomy and physics, as well as the more contemporaneous geology. There is also much material on early excavations within York including material related to the exploration of St Mary’s Abbey. There are numerous more general volumes on the history and archaeology of Yorkshire and the North.

  Time period

  The earliest complete book in the collection is from 1561, but the majority of books are contemporaneous with the foundation and formative years of Yorkshire Philosophical Society’s ideas and development, through the early 1800s to the year 1900.

  Geography

  The YPS developed a reference library of new discoveries which related to the collections in their care. As much debate was new and ongoing, this covered works from all over the world, but chiefly the UK and Europe. There is a strong Yorkshire element also, particularly on early archaeological excavation, municipal and religious records.

  Military History

  Dr Kirk initially collected regional civilian weapons and military material until 1941 when Edward Timperley donated his collection of arms and armour to the Museum in his admiration for Dr Kirk’s philosophy. This acquisition rendered the collections at York Castle Museum of national significance.

  Between 1952 and 1978, the museum housed the Yorkshire Military Museum, which brought in many donations of non-regimental military items of regional importance. The current collecting policy continues to reflect Dr Kirk’s belief that military material is an important part of the social history of the region.

  The military history collection represents regional associations with all aspects of English military history from about the late 15^th century to the present. The nationally important collection of approximately 9,000 objects derives its strength from the emphasis on the ordinary, with many items being particularly significant or rare precisely because of their utilitarian nature. Eighteenth century attempts to standardize British military equipment and weapons are illustrated in the collections by items of rare or unique sub-type. These are proving to be of importance in the study of weapons technology and usage. The armour collection is especially strong in seventeenth century items, while the representative collection of orders and medals is enhanced by the Thornley Bequest, which features world-wide orders and decorations of the highest quality including three Victoria Crosses.

  The military holdings are supported by the strong collection of books, orders, letters, manuals and other ephemera. There are also many photographs, prints and paintings relating to local units.

  The collection is unique in both its breadth and depth of coverage amongst non-specialist museums in the UK. In general, the collection represents regional associations with all aspects of English military history from the late 15th century to the present day.

  Subjects or Themes

  The collection covers uniform and militaria, firearms, edged weapons and poll arms, documents, maps, illustrations and equipment. In most of these areas, York has the largest collection amongst non-specialist museums within the UK.

  Strengths

  Military uniform

  The uniform collection covers a significant number of Military units. There is a particular emphasis on the Rifle Artillery, Engineer Volunteers, the Territorial Army, the Yorkshire Yeomanry, and the Local Militia of the Napoleonic Wars. This gives the collection an interesting early and local story of the military prior to national organisation and professionalisation. Significant items are a buff coat made between 1630 and 1645 which was reputedly worn by Sir Thomas Fairfax and a coatee worn by Matthew Grimes, who was one of Napoleon’s guards when in exile on St Helena.

  Firearms

  The firearms collection is comprehensive, having examples of most types of portable firearms. The collection charts and represents the development of firearms from approximately 1550 to the present day. This includes service and civilian weapons including sporting weapons and firearm accessories. Notable examples are a shotgun used by Luddites during the Luddite rebellion, and two flintlock guns made by pioneering gunsmith, Henry Nock.

  Edged weapons and polearms

  The edged weapons and poll arms collection is similarly comprehensive and of international importance, see Timperley collection below. There are few British used types not represented. Earliest examples date from the late 15^th century and go up to World War Two.

  Armour

  The armour collection represents functional European armour from the mid-16^th century to the present. It is especially strong in seventeenth-century items, see Timperley collection below. Other items of note include a First World War protective face visor used in tanks and made from leather and fine chainmail.

  Civilian and paramilitary

  A good collection of letters, documentation and World War One postcards with a strength in ephemera. Civilian gas masks including baby gas masks, a horse gas mask and male and female paramilitary material including ARP helmets and material from the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps.

  Timperley Collection

  When Edward Timperley donated his collection to the Museum in 1941, he had built a significant assemblage of arms and armour, often acquired from sales of nineteenth-century collectors such as Laking, Pembroke, and Redfern. The collection comprises arms and armour made in England, along with weapons and armour made abroad for English use. Earliest examples date from the late 15^th century, and latest examples date from World War One. The collection charts the development of arms and armour during this period. There is an emphasis of some local examples, with particular strength in the 17^th century, notably a breastplate reputably worn by Prince Rupert at the Battle of Marston Moor.

  Time Period

  The military collection broadly covers the time period from the 15^th century – to the present day. The strength of the collection focuses of the 17^th century through to the first half of the 20^th century, especially during times of warfare such as the English Civil War, Napoleonic Wars, World War One and World War Two.

  Geography

  The military collection focuses on the history of the English military with an emphasis on regional associations.

  Numismatics

  YMT’s Numismatics Collection is one of the largest in the country and is the most significant collection of its type in Northern England, numbering around 42,000 objects. It is formed of four collection subsets: coins, tokens, banknotes and medals.

  The origins of the collection are in the 19^th century with bequests and donations from local collectors – in particular Cook, Rook and Wakefield. In the 20^th century the collection grew through the addition of large collections of trade tokens, early medieval coins and military medals. More recently archaeological excavations and metal-detected hoards have produced the major additions to the collection, with examples such as the Wold Newton and Vale of York hoards, and the coins from Catterick excavations.

  The coin collection (c. 35,000) is largely formed of material which is well provenanced. Like many coin collections it spans a very broad time period, however its major strength lies in its archaeological nature, with material found in York and the region forming the majority of the collection.

  The collection of 17th, 18th and 19th century tokens (5,000) is widely representative of Yorkshire and across the rest of the country. It forms a coherent collection and dates from the early years of the Numismatics collection.

  The medal collection is comprised of military, commemorative and fine art medals. The military medals (850) are a small but very important collection which includes some early nineteenth-century medals, in addition to three Victoria Crosses. The commemorative and fine art (650) medals reflect the social history and artistic output of York.

  The banknote collection (300) is comprised of a good collection of nineteenth century regional banknotes, particularly issues of Yorkshire and Northern English banks.

  Subjects or themes

  The numismatic collection tells the story of the economic and monetary history of the region. This includes the centrally-produced official coinage, as well as the more local banking and token traditions of the region. The collection reflects the use and deposition of money from the Iron Age to the present day.

  The collection includes stories of power with coinage, in particular, used as a means of conveying and enforcing systems of authority. The iconography of the coinage illustrates official depictions of rulers, something which is occasionally subverted or challenged. The act of producing coinage, and ensuring their use similarly represents power and this is a clear theme within the collection.

  A major strength of the collection are its coin hoards, with elements of 41 in the collection. Many of these can often be connected to major events (e.g., Wold Newton and the Rise to power of Constantine the Great) or episodes of conflict (e.g., Breckenbrough and the Siege of York).

  The collection also has a social historical aspect to it, with coins, medals and tokens which speak of everyday life in the past 300 years. Some are of intrinsic significance (three Victoria Crosses) although most rely upon the contextual information associated with them.

  The collection also reflects modern patterns of collecting with named collections, notably that of Robert Cook, representing important elements within the antiquarian collection.

  Time period

  The Numismatics collection covers the chronological span from the Iron Age (200 BC) to the present day.

  There are only a handful (30) of Prehistoric coins in the collections. There are a small number of Iron Age coins from the region in the collection. There are also a small number (<100) of unprovenanced ancient coins.

  The is a very significant holding of Roman coinage (17,500) most of which comes from excavations in York or from hoards around the county. It has been described as a ‘major regional collection’ on a similar scale to international collections such as Lyon or Bern and has been summarised in the ‘Old Questions, New Collection’ document.¹ There are strengths in silver denarii as well as major hoards from this period.

  In the Anglian period, the collection is uneven although substantial (4,600). There are a few coins (<50) which fall within the period 410-800. In contrast, the museum holds the reference collection of ninth-century Kingdom of Northumbrian pennies (often called stycas). This collection is fully published and contains large portions of hoards from York and Bolton Percy.²

  The Anglo-Scandinavian coinage (1,500) is nearly all published, with the exception of the recently acquired Vale of York hoard.³ This hoard is one of the highlights of the Yorkshire Museum’s collection, with an outstanding group of coinage from the early-tenth century. The coinage of this period is mostly of the York mint, with a strong representation in all rulers and types. There are a number of coin hoards represented in the collection, particularly those buried in 1066 and 1068/9 around the times of the Norman Conquest and Harrying of the North.

  The Medieval period (3,700) is broad, with examples of most rulers, types, mints and moneyers within the collection. However, it is somewhat patchy in coverage, dictated by the availability of coinage in the past as well as the presence or absence of major hoards. There is particular strength in the fifteenth-century but a significant deficiency in the twelfth.

  In the post-medieval period, the collection includes some Tudor (1,000) coinage but this is not a strength of the collection. This is focused on the mint of York, and there are no major hoards in this period. The coinage of the Civil War period (3,000) is very well represented, with a number of major hoards including that from Breckenbrough.⁴

  The modern coinage (4,000) from 1700 onwards is fairly thorough in representing all major types, denominations and issues. There is significant duplication in this area, reflecting the previous collecting habits of Yorkshire and Castle Museum who overlapped in this area. These coins are complimented by a substantial collection of tokens (5,000) and a small holding of banknotes (300). There are also medals (1,500) from the eighteenth to late-twentieth centuries.

  Geography

  The geographic focus of the collection is strongly centred upon York and Yorkshire. Where provenance is known the overwhelming majority of material has been found or collected within the historic boundaries of Yorkshire. This is particularly true of the archaeological portions of the collection. In more modern section of the collection there are a greater proportion of objects from outside the UK, mostly representing travel in the twentieth century.

  Photography

  Subjects or Themes

  The photography collections are part of several wider collection areas. These are kept both at the Yorkshire Museum and the Castle Museum.

  Strengths

  Yorkshire Museum

  The Geology collection includes 5000 glass plate slides taken by Tempest Anderson, a York ophthalmologist, scientist and photographer, sheriff of York and president of the YPS.

  In addition, there are around 5,000 unsorted photographs and glass plate slides of astronomy, wildlife, portraiture and other scientific miscellany. These have been built up throughout the history of the YPS (Yorkshire Philosophical Society), and potentially hold previously unknown information about its members and activities. The collection also contains material relating to the history and topography of York.

  Anderson was a volcanologist, and this made up the bulk of his subject matter. However, there are a significant number of slides recording social and cultural events, in particular the aftermath of volcanic eruptions. The unsorted photographs/slides cover a range of scientific subjects.

  Castle Museum

  A substantial and varied archive of photographic images, numbering approximately 3,500 items. Photographs and glass negatives range from the second half of the 19th century to the 1990s.. Examples include glass lantern slides, ambrotypes, daguerreotypes, stereoscopic photos, studio portraits, aerial photos (mainly WW1 era), carte de visite photos and black and white transparencies. Many of these include images of the founder, Dr Kirk and his time spent on archaeological digs, motoring and social occasions. There are also early images of the Castle Museum. The collection of military photographs is strong, as are the Victorian images of York and its surrounding areas.

  Time Period

  Yorkshire Museum

  Anderson (1846-1913) was active in the late 1800s-early 1900s, and in many cases was the first person to record and photograph details of eruptions and the people who were affected by them. The unsorted photographs/slides cover the entire history of the YPS/YMT.

  Other photographs date from late 1800s.

  Castle Museum

  The collection focuses on a broad date range from the 1840s through to the 1990s, with strength from the 1890s – 1950s.

  Geography

  Yorkshire Museum

  Anderson’s photographs cover volcanic eruptions and their effects all over the world.

  The unsorted photographs/slides are mainly taken locally in Yorkshire.

  Castle Museum

  The collection mostly has a local connection. There are also images of France and Belgium during the First World War and ‘holiday’ studio portraits from a variety of places in the British Isles.

  Social History

  The Castle Museum was founded by Dr John Lamplough Kirk, an avid collector of ‘bygones.’ Kirk (1869-1940) was a medical doctor based in Pickering at the turn of the 20^th century. An amateur archaeologist and local historian, he was fascinated by the changing way of life, particularly in the rural communities and started to collect ‘bygones’ to preserve these rapidly declining practices and traditions. Dr Kirk was at the vanguard of what came to be called social history, collecting objects relating to everyday life which had previously been considered valueless.

  When his collections became too large to manage at his residency in Houndgate Hall, Pickering, he started to look for a building with the intention of creating a museum. Many places responded, but it was only York that could meet his specified conditions to care for his collection. John Bowes Morell, previous Lord Mayor, and Alderman at the time suggested the female wing of York Prison, built-in 1780, as a place for the museum. This was formerly the site of York Castle. Kirk agreed and the museum opened to the public on 23 April 1938. In 1951, a second building, the adjacent Debtors’ Prison, was added to the museum.

  The museum is perhaps best known for its recreated 19^th century shopping street which displays original shop fronts and buildings from the 16^th – early 19^th centuries. This is the first example of a recreated indoor street in Britain. Dr Kirk was at the forefront of a new kind of museum experience: he wanted people to feel as though they were transported back in time.

  York Castle Museum is situated in the bailey of York Castle, a site of judicial and royal authority since the Norman Conquest, and before that, at different times, a cemetery, and a site of domestic dwellings and possibly of public buildings. The museum occupies two eighteenth-century prison buildings and sits within the ruins of the medieval castle’s curtain wall. The architecturally significant Debtors’ Prison of 1705 was the country’s first purpose-built gaol for debtors and is the oldest of its type in Europe. The Female Prison of 1780 was designed to match the Assize Courts of 1777, overseen by renowned neoclassical architect John Carr (architect of the Court House).

  The buildings sit around the Eye of York, formerly known as the Eye of the Ridings – a grassed area dating from the early eighteenth century which served as the site of county elections until the nineteenth century.

  Subjects or Themes

  Strengths

  The broad strength of the collection is rooted in the experience of regional and local everyday life. This charts the changing way of life brought about by the industrial revolution and the agricultural revolution alongside technical and social developments of the 20^th century onwards. Site-specific and regional connections have opened up collecting themes around social protest and political reform. As a whole, the collection is of national and international significance as a repository for the everyday item rather than exceptional objects. As such, the collection constitutes a valuable record of regional and local life and work in the past. Whilst the collection covers farming, rural and urban trades, it does not cover the history of heavy industry. All sections of society are represented, the emphasis being on the emergent middle classes, but with women and children featuring as strongly in the collections as men. Collection strengths in these areas mostly fall between 1800 – 1920.

  Communication and technology

  • Charting the development of written, audio and visual communication. Date range: 1830-1980.
  • Telephones, televisions, and radio from the 1890s to 1930s, including a rare Baird ‘televisor’ television from 1930.
  • Camera equipment ranges from an early daguerreotype camera to a 1980s video camera.
  • Written communication and writing ephemera, including telegrams, typewriters, computers, pens, ink bottles, blotters and writing cases.
  • Newspapers and broadsheets from the 1700s to the early 21^st century.

  Craft, Trade and Retail

  • Material relating to local industry from the 1750s to the present day.
  • Shop fittings and furnishings, advertising and retail material, and trade catalogues and cards.
  • Strong collection of local confectionary industries including Terry’s, Rowntree’s and Craven’s.
  • Important collection of craft tools, including hand-tools and hand-powered machines from a range of industries consisting of engravers, coopers, shoemakers, tanners, basket weavers, comb makers, blacksmiths, pewterers, clay pipe maker, printers and tinsmiths.
  • Shopfronts, street features, and buildings. These were collected by Dr Kirk to create Kirkgate. Items of note include a tallows factory and Raindale mill – a working Victorian watermill. Most of these have a York or Yorkshire provenance, although some have been sourced nationally.

  Decorative arts

  • An extensive glass collection, representative of British glass from the 18th to 20^th century including a significant collection of glass made in York, at the Redfearn’s factory.
  • Examples of commercialised as well as craft pottery.
  • Silver items, notably by Cattle and Barber of York.
  • Pewter, copper, and other metal items, including tableware, flatware, and ornamental work ranging from 1650-1960.

  Domestic life

  • One of the finest collections of domestic equipment in the country, ranging from the seventeenth century to the present day.
  • A wide range of cooking, eating, washing, and cleaning equipment.
  • Items relating to the preserving and storing of food.
  • Lighting and heating equipment, and a large collection of electrical and gas appliances.

  Folk life

  • Material relating to Yorkshire agricultural life, folk lore, customs and rituals in rural areas between the 19^th and early 20^th centuries.
  • A large variety of local farming and agricultural implements demonstrating the shift from hand farming to mechanised farming. Includes hand tools, barrows, carts, waggons, harvesting tools and equipment, milling and machinery.
  • Items relating to stockkeeping and raising, including horse brasses and dairy equipment.
  • Cooking and food preparation items.
  • Items connected with Yorkshire ritual, customs and belief. Includes collections related to events of the calendar year and objects to mark life events including birth, marriage and death, such as love tokens, a substantial collection of knitting sheaths and a funeral biscuit mould.
  • A rare collection of superstitious items including an 18^th century curse charm mould and a cunningman’s rattle.

  Furniture, furnishings and fittings

  • Items of furniture from the 17th to the 20^th centuries, some of them specific to the region, including a large collection of vernacular chairs and a good collection of children’s furniture.
  • Strong collection of furnishing and fittings from 15^th century to the mid to late-20^th century including doorbells, light pulls, wallpaper, tiles, etc.

  Music

  • A fine and varied collection of musical instruments of national importance, with strengths in woodwind, keyboard, brass, and string instruments dating from 1730-1960, including a violin, harpsichord and a pianoforte made by York maker, Thomas Haxby.
  • Ballad sheets and popular song sheets from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries.
  • A large collection of musical boxes, polyphones, phonographs and their cylinders, and gramophones and record players, with a collection of early twentieth century vinyl records.

  Paintings and prints

  • Includes works depicting York and the region, from the eighteenth to the twentieth century.
  • A large group of popular subjects on paper, canvas, and glass.

  Prison collection

  • A small but varied collection of material linked to York Castle Gaol and the prison site from 1740s to the early 20^th century.
  • Includes material relating to prison staff, individual prisoners, prisoner craft work, protest and uprising, transportation, punishment and discipline. Notable objects include a prison treadmill, an ivory whistle that reputably belonged to Dick Turpin and letters written by Chartist leader, Feargus O’Conner.

  Public service

  • A Nationally significant collection of items relating to the history of the police force, fire brigade and friendly societies from 1700-1950.
  • Police force collection includes whistles, lanterns, helmets, handcuffs, staves, paper ephemera, truncheons and a significant national collection of police badges.
  • Fire service collection includes fire buckets, helmets, fire extinguishers and four fire engines ranging in date from 1789-1910. We also hold an important collection of fire marks.
  • Friendly societies collection includes staffs, sashes, collars, lockets, ceramics and ornaments.

  Rites of passage, customs and traditions

  • A comprehensive collection of items related to life events and annual celebrations.
  • A large collection of greetings cards, particularly fine for the period 1860-1950, and including Christmas cards and a large range of valentine cards, amongst them the earliest known printed and dated Valentine’s card (1797).
  • A very comprehensive collection of postcards and In Memoriam cards, political posters and cards, and Christmas decorations, ranging from 1700 to the present.
  • Items relating to education and religion.

  Recreation and Entertainment

  • A varied collection charting historic hobbies and pastimes including smoking items, sports equipment, cinema items, theatre and circus posters, dance cards, and entertainment adverts.

  Scientific and medical instruments

  • A strong and substantial collection of scientific and medical material that has local, regional and national significance, dating from 1600-1980.
  • Important collection of local weights and measures dating from 1601 onwards.
  • Scientific instruments including telescopes and other items made by Thomas Cooke of York, and a medical collection including surgical and gynaecological instruments, and items from apothecaries.
  • Clocks and watches from 1614-1980, including an important Tompion and Graham long-case clock and other pieces that reflect York as a centre for clock production, including clocks made by Henry Hindley.

  Toys and Games

  • Strong collection of toys and games, particularly tin toys, puzzles (including a Spilsbury dissected map), an early 1715 baby house, doll’s house furnishings, and children’s books.

  Vehicles

  • The collection comprises a good range of early cars, carriages, motorcycles, trade vehicles, farming vehicles, ceremonial coaches, bicycles, invalid chairs and a good selection of accessories relating to vehicles and transport dating from 1700-2000. Items of note are a Gypsy caravan, a ceremonial coach used by the High Sherriff of York in 1860, a 1901 steam powered car and a hansom cab.

  Time Period

  The social history collection broadly covers the time period from c. 1500 – to the present day.

  Geography

  The social history collection primarily covers local and regional history in Yorkshire. Most objects relate to York and the wider region, but it includes some areas – such as the outstanding firemark and truncheon collections – that are nationally based.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date:

  Licence: CC BY-NC