Collection: Southampton Cultural Services

Collection-level records:

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  Fine Art

  The art historian, John Thompson has stated that the story of western art from the Renaissance to the present day can be told using Southampton’s collection. The earliest work in the collection, Allegretto de Nuzio’s Coronation of the Virgin, is from the mid-fourteenth century.

   

  The smaller old-master element of the collection has good clusters of work of the Renaissance, Baroque (notably Dutch 17th century), British 18th century and French and British 19th century (including Impressionism and Pre-Raphaelitism).

   

  The core of the collection is built around British 20th century and contemporary art. Within that are four strong clusters: the Camden Town Group and related British Post-Impressionism (one of the best world-wide outside the Tate), Surrealists, St Ives School and Contemporary post 1976 (over 30 Turner Prize winners and nominees). The collection includes oil paintings, works on paper, sculpture, studio ceramics, wall-drawings and film/video work.

   

  Archaeology

  The archaeology collection contains material recovered from the city and its environs from the 19^th century onwards. This includes a range of material collected prior to the beginnings of formal excavation programmes in the 1950s. This material, much collected by enthusiastic local people, such as the Rev Edmund Kell, and William Dale, includes large numbers of prehistoric stone and flint objects, Roman coins, pottery and metal objects, an eclectic range of Saxon and medieval objects, all from the city, as well as material from other parts of southern England and from abroad.  Much of this material is of poor provenance but provides important evidence of early archaeological recording and is a rich source of stories from all periods of Southampton’s past.

   

  The major element of the archaeology collection consists of the archives from over 1600 formal archaeological investigations (excavations, watching briefs, building and photographic surveys) carried out within the city since the 1950s. These archives include plans, photographs, paper and digital records as well as environmental samples and the artefacts themselves.

   

  These collections are extensive, and provide unique, in-depth evidence of the domestic, industrial and trading activities of the Saxon and medieval towns. The Saxon town is one of the best preserved in the country, with roads, alleys, houses, rubbish pits and wells recorded, and large amounts of associated finds. The medieval town has significant standing remains and important archaeological evidence from the late Saxon period onwards. The collections are rich in imported objects, demonstrating the town’s importance as an international trading centre and port, and domestic objects and industrial waste which reflect the everyday life and technological achievements of its inhabitants. The range of domestic and imported goods, particularly pottery and glass, from the households of the wealthy cosmopolitan merchant class of medieval Southampton, for example, is exemplary. The pottery collections are particularly important, including a broad range of local and imported wares, which are of international significance.

   

  However, new research and fieldwork, since the introduction of planning control work in 1990, has broadened the range of the collections. There is increasing material showing prehistoric activity in the city. Prehistoric worked flints and pottery sherds have been found across the city, associated with ditches, pits and other features. Our knowledge of the Roman town of Clausentum has been increased by new discoveries, such as a warehouse of Samian pottery from France which was destroyed by fire in the late 2^nd century. An important late 3^rd century hoard of over 3000 Roman coins, found during building work in 2007, was acquired through the Treasure process in 2011.

   

  Southampton’s  growing role in international trade from the Tudor period onwards is reflected by artifacts linked to the Americas, the Mediterranean, and Africa. The collection includes  much pottery from late 18^th century rubbish pits when Southampton re-invented itself as a spa town and hosted genteel visitors such as Jane Austen and her family. Local industries included the servicing of commercial shipping, and sugar refining. These archives broaden the range of the collections and the stories they can tell. archives broaden the range of the collections and of the stories they can tell.

   

  The object collections are accompanied and complimented by extensive archive collections, the records generated by the process of excavation. These records are of international significance, as they provide the academic depth which makes detailed research on the collections possible. These records include site records, reports and publication texts, photographs, plans and drawings, and increasing amounts of digital data, such as text documents, digital photographs, databases and GIS and ACAD data.

   

  The collections are well-documented and appear in many local, national and international publications. They are a source of data for researchers from all over the world.

   

  The archaeological collections also include individual objects of archaeological significance found in the city by gardeners, builders and metal detectorists. In addition, there is a small collection of ancient Egyptian material, some of which was collected by Flinders Petrie; an internationally renowned ancient Nubian statue of the black pharaoh Taharqa, and a small collection of ethnographic material, collected by people from Southampton travelling or working abroad in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. This material reflected the collecting habits of individuals at the time and needs to be treated with sensitivity towards today’s communities.

   

  Maritime & Local History

  The maritime and local history collection contains objects, pictures, drawings, photographs, ephemera, film, video, oral history recordings and archives that have strong associations with the maritime and local history of Southampton and Southampton Water.

  These include

  • Maritime souvenirs and about 4,500 items of maritime ephemera, including menus, wine lists, deck plans, advertising brochures, ship-board newspapers, activity programmes as well as 47 posters, the earliest dating from 1893
  • Items illustrating the story of Southampton as an eighteenth century spa town, including a sedan chair
  • Unique holdings of material relating to the Titanic disaster, with a particular focus on the crew of this ship and the Southampton aspects of this global story
  • Several thousand items of costume and costume accessories, most with a local connection, but also many of a maritime nature, such as merchant navy uniforms
  • A number of photographic collections of ships and docks related to Southampton, including the ABP collection (c. 40,000 photographs, mostly of Southampton), the Mitchell, Phillips and Kennaway collections (c. 4,500 negatives and photographs) as well as many photograph albums, including both maritime and local photographs
  • A range of artworks, including a collection of several thousand maritime watercolours and drawings by local artist Arthur Cozens (1880-1947) and many hundred topographical prints
  • 300 ship models, including a 7 meter-long model of Cunard’s Queen Mary as well as a small number of bone models, made during the Napoleonic Wars by French prisoners of war
  • Maritime furniture and other liner interiors, including marquetry panels from Mauretania and Queen Elizabeth
  • Several hundred ships’ plans, engineering drawings and other material from local shipyards Day & Summers, Vosper Thornycroft, British Power Boat Company and Camper & Nicholson
  • Collections relating to the shipping lines Royal Mail Line and Shaw Savill. Both include primarily ephemera and souvenirs, as well as various other items such as photographs and costume
  • Artefacts relating to domestic life in Southampton, including toys and needlework tools
  • A reference library, comprising approximately 1000 volumes, relating to ships and shipping

   

  Archives

  The archives collection contains material about Southampton and its people and from further afield. It includes a wide range of written records for Southampton’s history, development and governance from 1199 to the present day, for example:

   

  • Southampton City Council’s own archives and those of its predecessors
  • Archives of statutory bodies operating in Southampton
  • Public Records offered under the terms of the Public Records Acts 1958-67 relating to Southampton and its interests
  • Southampton manorial and tithe documents offered under the Manorial Documents Rule 1960 and Tithe Act 1936
  • Ecclesiastical records for Southampton parishes under the Parochial Registers and Records Measure 1978 and a 1966 agreement with the Diocese of Winchester
  • Archives of individuals, organisations, businesses, institutions germane to the history of Southampton
  • Extensive oral history collections which capture the personal stories of people who served in the merchant navy, worked in the docks and passed through the City as gateway to empire

   

  The archive does not usually collect records outside Southampton’s boundaries, with one notable exception of relevance to the city – the Central Index of Merchant Seamen 1918-1941 which covers all British registered ships.

   

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date:

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  Fine Art Collection

  Southampton’s fine art collection, currently comprising 5,000 works of art and “Designated” by the Government in 1998 as possessing pre-eminent national significance, is the finest public collection of art south of London. Robert Chipperfield, councillor, and JP laid the foundation in 1911, bequeathing money to build an art gallery and a separate trust fund for the purchase of a growing art collection. He stipulated that the advice of the Director of the National Gallery should be sought in the use of his fund.

   

  In 1933 that role was taken up by Kenneth Clark. He wrote a succinct and focussed acquisition policy, still broadly adhered to today: a small collection of old masters, a representative collection of 19th century work, a collection of drawings and watercolours and a growing collection of modern works in oils. In 1925 F.W Smith, a councillor involved in the new gallery project bequeathed a further fund for the purchase of paintings.

   

  A professional curator, Loraine Conran, was appointed when the new gallery opened to the public in 1939. It was his successor, Maurice Palmer, whose extensive, consistent and visionary purchasing over 20 years developed the collection into the rounded form it has today. The historic part of the collection was built up from the 1930s to 1975. Then the high cost of Monet’s The Church at Vetheuil necessitated a change of direction. From that time the priority switched to the purchase of work by rising star British contemporary artists. The adviser also changed to a senior Tate curator knowledgeable in the field.

   

  The collection has been almost entirely built up with private bequest funds, gifts and bequests of artwork. In 1963, gallery owner and dealer, Arthur Jeffress bequeathed 99 works to Southampton, many rare and significant, and in 2002 Dr David Brown (the gallery’s first Tate, modern adviser) bequeathed 220 modern works of art including 15 works by St Ives artist Roger Hilton. The Orris Bequest Fund was added in 1998 and the Dr David and Liza Brown Bequest Fund in 2002 (administered by the Art Fund). More recently, over 100 prints, drawings and paintings were acquired through the Schlee bequest in 2013. The gallery also benefits from gifts from individual artists of their own work, reflecting the high regard in which the collection is held. Outside organisations such as the Art Fund, the Contemporary Art Society, the Pilgrim Trust and the Dannatt Trust as well as the Friends of Southampton Museums and Galleries have also supported the Gallery through important gifts.

   

   

  Museum Collection

   

  History of the Archaeology Collection

  The archaeology collections have their origins in the collections of Tudor House Museum, established as the city’s first museum in 1912. The early collections were very eclectic, representing a general interest in things historic or curious as well as those with particular local connections. They included prehistoric axeheads and Roman and Saxon material recovered from building sites in the town. These collections also included ancient Egyptian material and ethnographic objects brought back to the city by travellers and explorers. The shape of these early collections was much influenced by the museum’s first Honorary Curator, R.E. Nicholas, who donated items from his own collections, and persuaded many others to follow suit.

   

  Systematic excavation began in the 1930s with early work at Bitterne Manor, the site of Roman Clausentum, and increasing momentum developed on bombed sites in the Old Town in the 1950s and 1960s. These excavations produced large quantities of Saxon and medieval material, providing a nationally significant resource for the study of everyday life in the medieval town and its Saxon predecessor, Hamwic. A new Museum of Archaeology was opened at God’s House Tower in 1961 to showcase these important collections, and this museum became the recognised repository for all archaeological material produced in the city. This museum closed in 2011 and the collections transferred into other Council sites. The building is now occupied by ‘a space arts’ and opened as a new arts and heritage centre in 2019.

  As the pace of development has increased, so have opportunities for excavation and recording. Since 1990, planning regulations has enabled archaeological recording on hundreds of sites across the city, increasing the range and scope of material and broadening our understanding of the city’s past. These collections now comprise over half a million items, and their national significance was officially recognised in 1998 when they were awarded Designated status, positioning them within the country’s top ten archaeological collections outside London. Arts Council England’s publication on Designated Outstanding collections (2014) states “The size and range of the archaeology collections reflect the importance of Southampton in the past and at present, and the 50 years of systematic archaeological investigations in the city.”

   

  History of the Maritime and Local History collection

  Like the archaeology collections, the maritime and local history collections have their origins in the collections of Tudor House Museum, which opened in 1912 as the city’s first museum.

   

  The early collections were wide-ranging and eclectic and included natural history specimens, archaeology and ‘curios’ as well as artefacts relating to the city’s maritime and local history. A number of items were transferred to the museum from other Council departments, such as two banners from local volunteer regiments, dating from about 1802 and the town stocks, transferred in 1912 from the Town Clerk’s Department. A significant number of items were acquired from William Burrough Hill, a local collector and auctioneer. Among these were a collection of 63 watercolours by William Cooper, depicting the Old Town in the 1890s, immediately before extensive slum clearance took place.

   

  The collections developed, primarily through passive collecting (donations and bequests), but included significant items, such as the ceremonial sword belonging to Titanic’s late Captain Smith, which was donated by his wife and daughter. The significance of the rich maritime holdings was reflected in the opening of a new Maritime Museum in 1964 to showcase this aspect of Southampton’s history. The museum was located in a former medieval wool house near the Town Quay (currently occupied by the Dancing Man Brewery).

   

  The 1980s and 1990s saw extensive collecting of maritime and local history material. Southampton was changing rapidly with industry and manufacturing being replaced with retail and leisure. Groups of industrial and maritime artefacts were collected from several closing businesses, including Pirelli Cable Works and the Vosper Thornycroft Shipyard. Other significant donations were received during this period, including a collection of more than 300 historic dresses and costume accessories, donated by Miss Cozens, a local collector.

   

  In 2012, a new maritime museum was opened in the former Law Courts and Central Police Station. The displays in the new museum, SeaCity Museum, showcase the existing rich and varied maritime and local history collection.

   

  Between 2018 and 2022, as part of the museum service’s ACE-funded National Portfolio Organisation project, extensive work was undertaken to widen the diversity represented in the collections. This included contemporary collecting projects focusing on for example, Southampton’s LGBT community and the effects of Covid on local people.

   

  History of the Archive collection

  During the early 20^th century there had been increasing pressure from citizens and historians throughout the country worried about a lack of access to and safe provision for written historical material. In Southampton the main demonstration of the interest in local archives came via the newly formed

  Southampton Record Society under the editorship of Professor Fossy John Cobb Hearnshaw. Based at the now University of Southampton, it began publishing editions of early borough records – starting with Court Leet records, borrowing material from the then Audit House and working on them at home. Southampton opened its Record Office in 1953 to the public staffed by one archivist and having only a handful of researchers a year. At that time the collections were small and included only the records of the local authority and its predecessor bodies; collections, staff and visitors were all housed in one windowless, basement room.

   

  Now the collections have greatly expanded to include material from private individuals, public bodies, institutions, societies, churches and other sources. They are consulted by individuals from Southampton, and further afield, who visit the archives to pursue their interest in family history, educational projects, social, economic history and maritime history. This commitment to Southampton’s history was one of the grounds on which Southampton petitioned for and was awarded City Status in 1964. The reasons for the successful application included the ‘importance of the town in the shipping world’ …‘public spirit’…. ‘maintenance of historical records and customs, and the existence of a true sense of citizenship’. Special mention was also made of the ‘long history of public administration and the efficiency of municipal services’ – still reflected today in the provision of a records management service to the authority to improve and maintain this efficiency and to meet demands of legislation.

  In 2008 the collection of the Southampton Oral History Unit were given to the archives. The collection originates from a project begun in 1983 to record the life histories of Southampton people. Further projects included memories of the city’s African-Caribbean community, women in World War 1, and dock workers. This direct voice of the recent past complemented written and object collections and by 1986 oral history was an accepted part of the approach to documenting the recent past. The collections hold 800 recordings and over 5,000 related photographs documenting the lives of seafarers, shipyard workers, Titanic survivors, and local communities.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date:

  Licence: CC BY-NC