- Wikidata identifier:
- Q2900083
- Also known as:
- Bethlem Royal Archives and Museum
- Instance of:
- art museum; medical museum
- Museum/collection status:
- Accredited museum
- Accreditation number:
- 7
- Persistent shareable link for this record:
- https://museumdata.uk/museums/q2900083/
Collection-level records:
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Collection history (Collection development policy)
For thirty years following the 1985 incorporation of The Guttmann-Maclay Collection into the Museum’s holdings, the Bethlem Art and History Collections Trustees were engaged in active collection-building, in anticipation of the future expansion of the Museum’s facilities for storage and display, and the requirement to support a re-imagined permanent exhibition. In 2015, the Museum moved into its current home, the curation of the new permanent displays was completed, and the extent of those new facilities are now known and settled for the foreseeable future. This brought the period of the Museum’s active collection-building to a natural close. The Trustees believe that the collections as they currently stand are well suited to address the Museum’s stated mission.
Source: Collection development policy
Date: 2024
Licence: CC BY-NC
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Collection overview (Collection development policy)
Artefacts
The museum’s existing historical collection consists mainly of material deriving from Bethlem Hospital (the original ‘Bedlam’, founded 1247) and the Maudsley Hospital (opened in 1923) and Warlingham Park Hospital (1903-1999). Subject to the caveats expressed in paragraph 3 below, the museum will continue to collect material which is directly related to the three psychiatric hospitals and their associated institute, the Institute of Psychiatry. It is also the museum’s policy to acquire material illustrative of the history, and development up to the present day, of psychiatry in its widest context, including all aspects of the care and treatment of the mentally disordered. In this context in 2004 it acquired the core collection of the former Museum of St Bernard’s Hospital (formerly Hanwell Asylum).
Art
The museum’s existing art collection, which incorporates the Hyslop and Guttmann-Maclay Collections, consists mainly of work by artists who have at some time suffered from mental disorder, with an emphasis on those who were already trained or practising as artists before this period. It is especially known for the work of several artists who were patients in Bethlem Hospital, including Richard Dadd, Jonathan Martin, and Louis Wain, and of others, including William Kurelek, who were patients in the Maudsley Hospital. However, it is not restricted to artists who have been patients in these hospitals or in any other institution. The collection also contains other works which are of interest in the general field of psychiatry, e.g. mediumistic drawings and drawings produced during experiments with mescaline in the 1930s.
Source: Collection development policy
Date: 2024
Licence: CC BY-NC