Collection: Tudor House Museum

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  Since 1971, Tudor House was the main display area for the City Museum’s Service’s social history collection. It was renamed the Museum of Local Life in the late 1980s. This closed in 2003 due to local authority cutbacks and was largely cleared of collections but was reopened by volunteers (WHAT) as Tudor House Heritage Centre, later Tudor House Museum. The house is still owned by the city council but is on a 999-year lease to Worcester Municipal Charities for WHAT. Collecting was started by WHAT in 2004 to reflect the uses of Tudor House since built in the 1500s. It is therefore predominantly a social history collection which aims to reflect life in Worcester, primarily Friar Street. In addition to loans and donations from the public, WHAT has curated loans from the local authority’s museum service (now ‘Museums Worcestershire’) from the building’s time as the Museum of Local Life.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2024

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  The collection covers the following areas, based on the house’s history:

  • Weaving, 16th and 17th century
  • 19th century brewing and pubs
  • Worcester during World War 2 (focusing on the ARP Warden station)
  • The early 20th century Cadbury tea room
  • The early 20th century school clinic and dentist
  • 19th century industry in Worcester.

  Replicas are used to convey aspects of Tudor life with the exception of few authentic artefacts such as the two coins which were acquired in 2024.

  Key loans include:

  • A collection of Victorian kitchen paraphernalia.
  • A collection of documentation and silverware relating to the Worshipful company of Clothiers.

   

  Its strengths lie in a digitised photographic archive – originals are stored by the County’s Archive Service and copyright held by private individuals. The museum has permission to reproduce the images.

  The social history collections have been built up over twenty years, with some larger objects being left in situ after the building ceased to be run as the Museum of Local Life. Most of these objects have now either been returned to Museums Worcestershire or converted into long term loans. Until 2013, all objects collected by the Tudor house were accepted as loans for an unspecified period. In 2014 this was redressed, with the lenders being contacted and, in most cases, legal title given to the museum. Items not donated were established as long term loans with a fixed period of usually 3 years.

  The museum also has a handling collection, consisting of brought-in objects and replicas, or unprovenanced duplicates from the collection. These are not suitable for accessioning and are used to support schools, workshops, hands-on activities and events.  This includes a significant collection of handling costume in the dress up area of the Tudor Worcester gallery.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2024

  Licence: CC BY-NC