Collection: Northampton Museum and Art Gallery

Collection-level records:

• Collection overview (Cornucopia)

  Boot and Shoe Collection

  This is a collection of historic footwear, mainly shoes and boots from 1650 to the present day. There are approximately 12,000 items in total. Approximately 750 are items of ethnographical footwear and approximately 50 are items of theatrical footwear, including some associated with the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company. There are also approximately 50 items of dance footwear, many from named dancers, and an archive including magazines and catalogues relating to the shoe trade.

  Subjects

  Theatrical footwear; Footwear; Ballet slippers; Shoes; Archives

  Costume and Textiles Collection

  Regional significance. The collection contains over 5,000 items, the largest section is women’s dresses 1770-1970. The Boot and Shoe collection is a designated collection and includes a large collection of footwear. About 5,500 items of equipment and samples relating to the East Midlands bobbin lace industry.

  Subjects

  Footwear industry; Bootmakers; Footwear; Lace industry; Boots; Clothing; Lace manufacture; Shoe industry; Bootmaking; Costume and Textile; Lace; Boot and Shoe; Fashion; Shoemakers; Shoemaking; Shoes; Lace makers; Dresses

  Decorative and Applied Arts Collection

  The collection includes approx. 4,100 items excluding furniture: English, European and North African ceramics; glass; metalwork; enamels; oriental collection. The greatest strength is the fine collections of British and Oriental ceramics given early this century by 5 private collectors. Local significance and international interest.

  Subjects

  Ceramics; Decorative glass; Glass painting; Decorative arts; Furniture; Glass; Crafts; Metalwork (product)

  Fine Art Collection

  Local significance and International interest. The collection contains approx. 2,700 items in various media, including sculpture. The main element is British easel paintings and works on paper from 19th and 20th centuries. Non-British pictures include important group of 17th and 18th century paintings; works of high quality by secondary masters, particularly from the Venetian School.

  Subjects

  Fine arts; Sculpture; Paintings; Drawings

  Social History Collection

  Local significance. The social history collections cover community life, civic affairs, working life, industrial processes and the full range of personal and domestic life material. Some 27,800 items in total.

  Subjects

  Community; Industrial production; Domestic life; Social history

  Archaeology Collection

  Material ranging from Bronze Age to post-medieval period accumulated since 19th century. Recently excavated part of collection comprises some 6,000 boxes: 2,000 material from Northampton Borough and rest from elsewhere in county. Provisionally approved store under English Heritage scheme. Ancient Egyptian collection of approx. 221 items from prehistory to Ptolemaic period. Local significance and international interest.

  Subjects

  Egyptian history; Archaeological sites; Archaeology; Archaeological objects

  Ancient Egyptian Collection

  International interest. The museum holds 221 ancient Egyptian objects which are part of the Archaeology collection. Some of these objects were presumably acquired in Egypt by Spencer Joshua Alwyn Compton, second Marquis of Northampton, during a trip in Egypt in 1849-50, was loaned and, in the 1870s, donated to the museum by his son. Some of the material is on display in the Abington Museum, the remainder is stored in the Northampton Museum. Classes of objects represented in the collection include: amulets; faience figures; faience vessels; jewellery; metal figures; human remain (mummies); musical instruments; papyri; pottery; scarabs/sealings; shabtis; stelae (stone); stelae (wood); stone figures; stone vessels; tomb models; wooden figures; and palm leaf sandals. Objects are known to have come from the following locations in Egypt: Gizeh(?); Saqqarah; Thebes.

  Subjects

  Antiquities; Ancient civilizations; Antiquity; Egyptology

  Numismatics Collection

  Local significance The collection contains approx. 12,000 coins and tokens in archaeology department. Approx. 800 medals in social history department. Particular strengths of the collection are coins from Northampton mint and large number of Northampton tokens and checks.

  Subjects

  Numismatics; Archaeology; Tokens; Medals; Coins

  Agriculture Collection

  Local significance. Small collection of agricultural material.

  Subjects

  Agriculture

  Biology Collection

  Local significance The collection includes collection of mounted specimens, herbarium (4,560 items), mollusca collection (3,222 items), and small collection of birds’ eggs and forestry seeds.

  Subjects

  Seeds; Molluscs; Natural sciences; Plants; Birds; Eggs; Forestry; Biology

  Geology Collection

  Local significance and International interest. The collection contains approx. 40,000 items of which 75% are Northamptonshire Jurassic finds acquired mainly from the outstanding 19th century local collectors, Spencer Compton and Beeby Thompson. Over 100 type and figured specimens. The remaining 25% consists of fossils from outside the county, and a world-wide mineral collection. The collection also includes some rare books on geology.

  Subjects

  Fossils; Books; Geology; Minerals

  Ethnography Collection

  The collection is held in store. Most of it is poorly provenanced (although identified) and was purchased for display many years ago or has been the result of casual donation, it has little local relevance.

  Subjects

  Ethnography

  Archives Collection

  Local significance. Not separately identified as a class of material but the geology collection includes “rare books”. The Boot and Shoe collection’s research library includes trade catalogues, documents, photographs, printed ephemera and boot and shoe trade magazines.

  Subjects

  Printed ephemera; Shoes; Geology; Archives; Trade associations; Boots

  Source: Cornucopia

  Date: Not known, but before 2015

  Licence: CC BY-NC