Collection: Museum of Bath at Work

Collection-level records:

• Collection overview (Cornucopia)

  Science and Industry Collection

  J B Bowler and Sons (Bath) was a mineral water manufacturing and bottling plant and brass and iron foundry during the period 1856-1969. The museum has the entire stock-in-trade of the company comprising some 50,000 objects including handtools, machinery, the bottling plant and a remarkable collection of almost 10,000 old bottles. There is also the contents of the workshops of F Keevil and Sons (Bath), cabinet makers (1900-1977); Bath Stone stone crane quarrying and masonry tools (c.1880-present); items manufactured by Weaver and Sons (Bath), sewing machine manufacturer and bedmaker; Horstmann Gear Co Ltd and Horstmann Cars Ltd, time clocks and precision time keeping equipment; and Ashman, Bath watch and clockmaker, the contents of a workshop including precision tools, lathes, gear cutting machinery, and watch and clock parts.

  Subjects

  Science and Industry

  Oral History Collection

  There is a collection of interviews with Bath residents recalling their life and work.

  Subjects

  Oral History

  Photographic Collection

  There are substantial photographic collections supporting and associated with the main archives held in the museum, including J B Bowler and Sons (Bath); Bath Stone, photographs of local stone mines; Norris (Bath), a cabinet making company thought to be the first in Bath to make furniture on a factory system, c.2,000 black and white glass plate negatives of furniture made by the company c.1880-1900; Stothert and Pitt Co Ltd, one of the largest crane builders in Europe (which now exists in name only), a collection of some 3-4,000 black and white negatives of cranes and other items made by the company in Bath c.1930-1970; and Horstmann Gear Co Ltd and Horstmann Cars Ltd, photographs from this precision time keeping equipment company.

  Subjects

  Photography

  Archives Collection

  The company of J B Bowler and Son Ltd (Bath) did not believe in disposing of anything, so this museum has a huge and remarkable legacy of some 100,000 items of archival material relating to the firm between 1856 and 1969. The material includes correspondence, advertising materials, journals, ledgers and almanacs. There are also archive items relating to other collections held by the centre including the Keevil collection; Weaver and Sons (Bath), sewing machine manufacturer, for which there is a considerable amount of business correspondence; Horstmann Gear Co Ltd and Horstmann Cars Ltd, for which there is advertising material, catalogues and correspondence; Pabst, stationers of Wood Street, Bath, for which there are about 1,000 documents dated 1868-76; Fullers Earth, Combe Hay, Bath, for which the business records dating from 1916 to 1970 number c.8,000 items; architects drawings for the Bath Electric Light Works, no.9 Royal Crescent, the Domestic Training Centre (Sion Hill), and the Little Theatre; and British Gas, documentary material relating to its history and operation of Bath Gas Light and Coke Co Ltd.

  Subjects

  Archives

  Source: Cornucopia

  Date: Not known, but before 2015

  Licence: CC BY-NC