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Wikidata identifier:
Q499510
Also known as:
Liverpool University, The University of Liverpool
Instance of:
public university; educational organization
Persistent shareable link for this record:
https://museumdata.uk/museums/q499510/

Collection-level records:

  • Collection history (Collection development policy)

    Since its inception, the University has been fortunate to receive gifts and bequest from many benefactors.

    Early benefactors strived to assist the University in its ambitions to emulate the old universities in its cultural offer – with buildings, museum and library collections, and fine and decorative art.

    Originally, up to ten departments housed their own museums, but in most cases, these collections became orphaned by the late twentieth century and since 2004 these have been under the care and responsibility of the Heritage Collections (now part of Cultural Heritage Services within the Libraries, Museums, Galleries Department).

    The collections were taken under centralised management at different times. The Garstang Museum of Archaeology originated as the Institute of Archaeology established by Professor John Garstang in 1904. Today it remains an important teaching and research resource whilst also being open to the public. The Art Collections Department curated the fine and decorative art, furniture, ceramics, sculpture and silver from the mid-1970s until it came under centralised curatorship in 2004.

    The University’s original purpose-built building, designed by Alfred Waterhouse, was renovated and opened to the public as the Victoria Gallery & Museum in 2008, with the intention that this would be the University’s permanent contribution to the city in Liverpool’s European Capital of Culture year.

    The University of Liverpool was established as University College Liverpool in 1881. Its Library collections initially grew mostly from donation and from the transfer of existing institutional and private libraries; these early donations were not housed separately but dispersed throughout the general collections and departmental libraries. In 1900 the major bequest to the University of the T.G. Rylands collection, including medieval manuscripts and early printed books, established in principle and practice a separate Special Collections to keep together uniquely valuable items with a shared provenance. In 1968 two departments were created: Special Collections, to house rare books, manuscripts and archives relating to research and teaching; and University Archives, to manage the institutional historical record. In 1995 these two separate services were merged to form a single entity of Special Collections & Archives, which is based within the Sydney Jones Library.

    Cultural Heritage Services are part of the Libraries, Museums, Galleries Department.

    Source: Collection development policy

    Date: 2024

    Licence: CC BY-NC

  • Collection overview (Collection development policy)

    The collections consist of 4 areas:

    • Fine and Decorative Art

    • Garstang Museum of Archaeology Collections

    • Museum Heritage Collections

    • Special Collections & Archives

    Specialist professional staff manage the varied collections.

    Fine and Decorative Art

    Oil Paintings

    The collection includes a handful of international items but is essentially British, dating from the seventeenth century to the present. Due to the variety of benefactors no movement or periods are systematically represented. Nevertheless, the collection includes fine works by several important artists.

    The most important non-British group of pictures in the collection are three early oil paintings by John James Audubon. These were produced in 1826 during Audubon’s visit to Liverpool while he was seeking out patrons for the publication of Birds of America. Together with the drawings and watercolours on display in the Audubon gallery, this comprises the largest holding of J.J. Audubon’s original work outside America.

    The remaining international paintings are mainly landscapes either by Dutch or Italian painters of the seventeenth century and were collected by Matthew Gregson (gift to the University from Isobel Gregson in 1906).

    A small bequest of Greek, Cypriot and Russian icons from the seventeenth – nineteenth centuries was made to the University by Professor Roaf in 1986.

    The bulk of the collection of oil paintings are British, beginning with some portraits in the School of Van Dyck. Among the best known from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries are works by Joseph Wright of Derby, J.M.W. Turner, George Morland, Nathan Theodore Fielding and the marine artists Matthew Condy and Samuel Walters.

    From the late nineteenth century onwards the most important paintings are by Atkinson Grimshaw, Richard Ansdell, Edward Atkinson Hornel, Robert Anning Bell.

    Due to a positive policy of collecting contemporary art in the post-war years, the University holds a collection of significant Mid-20th Century paintings including work by Lucian Freud, Gillian Ayres, Sandra Blow, Frank Bowling, Adrian Berg, Robert Colquhoun and Euan Uglow. Later additions include works by Peter Lanyon, Bridget Riley, Christopher Le Brun and Fiona Banner.

    Artists from the Liverpool area, or with connections to Liverpool are also extensively represented in the collection: Gerard Chowne, Nicholas Horsfield, Will Penn, Dorothy Adamson, George Mayer-Marton, Millicent Ayrton, Clement McAleer, Roderick Bisson, Arthur Ballard, Stanley Reed, George Jardine, J. Coburn Witherop, Sam Walsh, Adrian Henri, Peter Corbett and Tom Palin.

    Portraiture is an important element of the collection in recording the eminent figures in the history of the University. The best-known group of portraits are those by Augustus John who taught in the University ‘Art Sheds’ between 1901-2. The University also owns portraits by William Strang, Henry Carr, F.T. Copnall, Edward Halliday and Will Penn.

    Watercolours and Drawings

    The core of this collection is a group of 80 watercolours given to the University by Sir Charles Sydney Jones. All the important English watercolourists are represented: Paul Sandby, J.R. Cozens, John ‘Warwick’ Smith, Thomas Varley, Thomas Girtin, J.M.W. Turner, Anthony Vandyke, Copley Fielding, Peter de Wint, David Cox and John Sell Cotman.

    There is scope for developing the collection of late nineteenth century watercolours and drawings. Current holdings centre on four impressive cartoons for stained glass windows in St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh by Edward Coley Burne-Jones.

    The twentieth century collection includes some significant works by Arthur Rackham, Herbert MacNair, Robert Anning Bell, John Nash, Michael Ayrton, Anthony Gross, Graham Sutherland, Terry Frost, Patrick Heron, Adrian Henri, Deanna Petherbridge, Graham Arnold and Ian McKeever.

    The University also has a small but interesting group of architectural drawings (many related to its School of Architecture, one of the earliest in Britain). This comprises works by Alfred Waterhouse, H.C. Bradshaw, Stanley Adshead, Professor C.H. Reilly, Gordon Stephenson and G.A. Holmes.

    Sculpture

    The collection comprises monumental, architectural, public and small sculptures.

    The most important public sculptures are by George Frampton, Elisabeth Frink, Alfred Gilbert, C.J. Allen, Eric Kennington, Dame Barbara Hepworth, Philip King, Hubert Dalwood, Mitzi Cunliffe and John McCarthy.

    Elements from a small but significant collection of small free-standing sculpture are displayed in the Victoria Gallery & Museum and include works by Herbert Tyson Smith, Jacob Epstein and Elisabeth Frink.

    Prints

    This is the largest holding in the University art collections and comprises some 1950 items. Within this total the collection divides equally between modern and pre-twentieth century prints.

    The prints held in the art collections are complemented by a fine collection of rare, printed books held in Special Collections & Archives.

    The collection of prints up to 1900 contains a wide selection of material. There are early examples of etchings of W. Hollar and Peter Burdett, engravings by G. Vertue, R. Morghen, J. Houbraken, F. Bartolozzi and J. Boydell, rare early woodcuts by John Baptist Jackson, fine mezzotints by David Lucas, W, Dickson and T. Watson and a good selection of etchings by James Hamilton Hay.

    Early chromolithography is exemplified in the high-quality Arundel prints after Italian old master frescoes (published by the Arundel Society for Promoting the knowledge of Art 1848-97).

    A handful of outstanding artist printmakers are represented, Piranesi, Alphonse Legros, James McNeil Whistler and Rembrandt.

    The twentieth century collection of prints are largely post-war and includes work by a wide range of distinguished artists: Kenneth Armitage, Gillian Ayres, Peter Blake, Derek Boshier, Patrick Caulfield, Lynn Chadwick, Cecil Collins, Robyn Denny, Elizabeth Frink, Terry Frost, Anthony Gross, Patrick Heron, David Hockney, Howard Hodgkin, Gordon House, John Hoyland, Allen Jones, R.B. Kitaj, Le Corbusier, Marino Marini, Ben Nicholson, Victor Passmore, John Piper, Richard Smith, Graham Sutherland, Jo Tilson, William Turnbull, G.H. Wedgwood.

    Ceramics

    The ceramics collection consists mainly of the Sir Sydney Jones’ collection of early English porcelain with supporting material from Europe and the Far East. This latter group includes an important and representative selection of eighteenth century Chinese armorial tableware. The development of hard and soft paste porcelain is represented by examples from most of the English manufacturers: Bow, Chelsea, Derby, Worcester, Bristol, New Hall, Caughley, Nantgarw, Plymouth, Pinxton, Coalport, Lowestoft, Davenport, Spode, Swansea and Rockingham.

    Some of the strengths of the collection are: ‘Mercury’ c.1760; a fine selection of Derby biscuit figures c.1795; a range of gilded and enamelled high foot Derby urns and vases illustrating the influence of Sèvres porcelain; hand-painted blue Worcester ware with butterfly and bird designs; and some unusually fine examples of Spode Japan patterns c.1815.

    The collection also contains a large group of early Wedgwood Jasper ware urns and an example of the Portland (or Barberini) vase.

    Glass Collection

    The glass collection consists of a small collection of domestic items from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries given to the University by Sir Sydney Jones. This was augmented by the Horsfall bequest of approximately fifty items of mainly nineteenth century cut glass.

    Garstang Museum of Archaeology Collections

    The various collections that are now curated in the Garstang Museum are derived from the following sources:

    • Material deposited by Institute staff because of their fieldwork, principally that of Garstang and including some of his pre-1904 Institute work, for example that undertaken on behalf of Flinders Petrie’s Egypt Research Account and his own other non-affiliated work and deposited mainly up to the time of the Second World War.

    • Material donated by the ‘benefactors’ and ‘shareholders’ on the various Institute excavation committees.

    • Non-Institute fieldwork material donated by others or else received because the University, Institute or School had funded the work that generated it.

    • Material, either originals or copies, purchased by the Institute or on its behalf by its staff and benefactors.

    The Garstang Museum consists of two overlapping collections: its various collections of objects derived from archaeology fieldwork; and the paper and photographic archive which in the main relates to much of that fieldwork. There is also an extensive archive of material pertinent to the origins and history of the Institute of Archaeology. The paper archive includes an extensive set of documents and illustrations including field notebooks, correspondence and drawings which comprise the primary records of the archaeological excavations from which the bulk of the Museum’s objects derive. This archive is an important research resource in its own right. The Museum also holds some 10,000+ plate-glass negatives related mainly to excavations in Egypt and the Middle East by John Garstang between c.1900 and 1940. In addition to this there are c.3500 Velox safety films, mainly of Winifred Blackman’s work in Egypt in the 1920s and 1930s.

    Egypt and Nubian Sites

    The greater part of the Egyptian collections comes from the excavations of John Garstang, and those of Sir Robert Mond conducted in the name of the former Liverpool Institute of Archaeology. The principal sites excavated by Garstang, which have contributed significantly to the Garstang Museum’s holdings are Abydos, Beni Hasan, Hierakonpolis, Naqada, Esna and Meroë (Sudan). The collections have been subsequently enhanced by a number of gifts, most notably of the Grant (Bey) material, the James Smith Collection (acquired in 1927 and consisting of material from Garstang excavations) and of material from the excavations of the Egypt Exploration Society.

    The Egyptian and Sudanese material comprises over 10,000 objects/object groups.

    Also held in the Garstang Museum is over 10,000 photographic negatives and prints relating to John Garstang and Aylward Blackman’s excavations in Egypt and Sudan.

    Near Eastern Sites (The Levant and Anatolia)

    There are a significant number of objects from Garstang’s work at Jericho in the 1930s and from the excavations conducted by Kathleen Kenyon on behalf of the British School of Archaeology at Jerusalem and with the support of the University. An important group of Near Eastern seals was donated by R.W. Hutchinson (1894-1970, Lecturer in Classical Archaeology at the University from 1948).

    The Near Eastern Collection numbers 700 objects/object groups.

    Also held in the Garstang Museum is over 850 photographic negatives and prints relating to John Garstang excavations in the Levant and Anatolia.

    Classical and Other Mediterranean Material

    The classical material consists of mainly pot sherds along with lead votive objects, clay sculpture, glass and stelae plus some casts which were purchased in the years before the First World War.

    Most of this material consists of gifts of (parts of the) personal collections of the professors R.C. Bosanquet (1871-1935) and J. Droop (1882-1963), successively the Institute’s Professors of Classical Archaeology (1906-1920 and 1921-1948) and of Mr RW Hutchinson. Bosanquet’s and especially Hutchinson’s collections form the core of the Aegean antiquities.

    The Classical and Mediterranean collection numbers 1000 objects/object groups.

    Prehistoric and Roman Sites in Britain

    At various times the Institute and later on the University have been involved in fieldwork in the United Kingdom. The Garstang Museum therefore holds small collections of material related to prehistoric and Roman sites from Britain. This is in addition to objects obtained as purchases or gifts from other non-Liverpool affiliated projects.

    The Prehistoric collection numbers 660 objects/object groups, while the Roman Britain collection is not fully catalogued.

    Ethnographic Material

    Winifred Blackman (1872-1950) undertook in the 1920s and 1930s research into Egyptian peasant society. Held in the Garstang Museum is over 3,500 of her photographic negatives and prints and a large quantity of her correspondence, objects and notebooks relating to her travels, Egyptian folklore, magic and charms as well as catalogues of tattoo designs.

    The Ethnographic collection numbers over 3,700 objects/object groups.

    Coin Collection

    The Institute of Archaeology’s original Department of Numismatics was created in 1908 and remained active until 1935. The bulk of the collection was acquired up to this time and especially at the start of the Institute when several prominent members of Liverpool donated their private collections. The collection consists of mainly Celtic British, Greek, Hellenistic, Roman Republican and Imperial and Parthian/Sassanian.

    The collection numbers around 1500 coins.

    Museum Heritage Collections

    The Museum Heritage Collections mostly consist of material which reflects the teaching and research of the University. This has happened in two ways:

    1. Items acquired for teaching, for example skeletal material and models used historically in the teaching of subjects such as medicine, physics, veterinary science, dentistry and comparative anatomy.

    2. Items generated by research within the University, for example cathode tubes used by Oliver Lodge in research on x-rays and James Chadwick’s Geiger counter given to him by Geiger.

    In all areas, there is an interest in collecting material that not only relates to the history of teaching methods used or research undertaken in the past, but also contemporary items such as samples of phage used in research into the potential development of new antibiotics. As research continually develops it is anticipated that more contemporary material will be acquired.

    Anaesthesia

    A comprehensive collection of around 800 items of historical equipment, begun by Professor T.C. Gray in the 1960s. Of particular note are the samples of Curare, used by Professor Gray in his research which created the foundation of modern anaesthesia, and the Minnitt apparatus, which was used in Liverpool to deliver gas and air in childbirth for the first time in 1933.

    Anatomy

    The collection consists of 98 large-scale anatomical illustrations (drawings and watercolours) made for teaching purposes and a collection of teaching models, some of which are of exceptional quality, such as a series of wax babies in difficult birth presentations. Several of the models pre-date the University and were originally part of the teaching collection at the Liverpool Royal Institution. These models were transferred to the University’s Medical Museum when the Institution closed in 1948.

    Antique Furniture

    The furniture collection has been the subject of a disposal project in recent years. This is because much of the collection was utilitarian or domestic in nature and had been accessioned into the collection in error. The remaining collection is smaller but consists of high-quality items from named donors such as Sir Charles Sydney Jones and Mrs Horsfall.

    Biological Sciences

    The majority of this collection is part of the original late 19th century Natural History collection, which was established as a teaching collection by Professors William Abbott Herdman and Andrew Melville Paterson. The collections cover the research interests of both professors: zoology, oceanography and geology from Herdman and human and comparative anatomy from Paterson. The collection numbers approximately 1000 items, including early specimens collected by Herdman and samples from the Challenger Expedition.

    Calculators and computing

    The calculators and computing objects originate from several scientific departments. They number around 100 items from the early to late twentieth century, including a 1962 memory core, which has a 16kb capacity, yet is almost the size of a breeze block.

    Chemistry

    123 items, mainly equipment used in teaching and research in the first half of the twentieth century.

    Civic Design

    This collection consists of around 20 models of University of Liverpool buildings.

    Dentistry

    This is an internationally important collection of around 10,000 items relating to dental history. The Dental Museum was begun by staff and students of the school in 1880 as a teaching resource and expanded during the inter-war years. Elements of particular note include a collection of dentist’s chairs, collections reflecting early research in maxillofacial surgery and the treatment of cleft palate, an entire dental surgery from around 1920 and an important collection of Waterloo teeth.

    Engineering

    This collection includes several objects connected to the research of Professor Hele-Shaw. There is also a collection of small models of different types of engines (some of which are functioning) and some unusual large-scale engines, including a plane rotary engine and the propulsion unit from a guided missile.

    Geography

    This collection consists of several maps, some surveying equipment and collections of slides.

    Geology

    This collection comprises many thousands of items, most are effectively a handling/teaching collection used in the department. There is a core of important specimens such as the type specimen of Beasley’s type D2 Rhynchosaurides rectipes.

    Medals

    The medal collection largely comprises awards to senior members of University staff, which are of historical rather than artistic interest. However, a number of significant local artists were given important commissions, which are represented in the collection: C.J. Allen, Herbert Tyson-Smith and Edward Carter Preston.

    Metalwork

    A collection of fine examples of British silver and silver plate from the early seventeenth century to the present. The majority of items are primarily of historical interest as they are commemorative items associated with senior members of the University, but there are also a significant number of fine quality examples of the silversmith’s art. Amongst them are two marrow spoons c.1690, a bleeding bowl of 1694, an elegant helmet-shaped creamer of 1781 (London), two high-foot vase-shaped ewers c.1790 (London), a cup and cover by Anthony Nelme 1716, several baluster tankards c.1760, a punch ladle 1746 (London) and a two-foot high candelabra epergne made by Edward Barnard & Sons in 1836 and presented to the University by William Rathbone to celebrate its centenary.

    Obstetrics and Gynaecology

    This collection contains approximately 330 objects and over 50 books including several important antiquarian volumes. Items of note include a large collection of forceps, some of which are very early in date, and the wax models of babies in difficult presentations that were used in teaching.

    Physics

    This collection is of importance due to the links to Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir James Chadwick and C.G. Barkla and the pioneering work on atomic research undertaken at the University in the twentieth century. It numbers around 500 items including a protype Gieger counter given to Professor Chadwick by Geiger, handwritten notebooks from Los Alamos, Oliver Lodge’s gas lighter, which were used in his radio experiments, and an extensive collection of experimental and demonstration glass tubes.

    Scientific and Medical Equipment Collection

    A collection of approximately 700 items, which was assembled in the late 1980s following an appeal to departments for material. The items relate to the work of the University departments from the creation of the University in 1881.

    Textiles

    The textile collection comprises 20 items and includes tapestries and wall-hangings as well as clothing related to the history of the University.

    Veterinary Sciences

    The veterinary collection includes key material, including the skeleton of the racehorse Manifesto (two-time Grand National winner) and a demountable plaster model of a horse by Maison Deyrolle. A collection of around 300 items used for teaching purposes is held in the faculty.

    X-rays

    An important collection of early x-rays dating from 1896 onwards recording the pioneering work of Charles Thurston Holland, together with research notebooks.

    Special Collections & Archives (SCA)

    University Archive

    The archives include formal records of University boards and committees; selective administrative records; personal papers of former staff and students; and photographs and objects relating to the history and function of the University since its formation in 1881.

    The archive includes the papers of internationally important architects and town planners Baron William Graham Holford and Gordon Stephenson; renowned physicist Sir Oliver Lodge; and influential literary scholars Kenneth and Mariam Allott. The archives also house extensive material relating to student life and activities.

    Material is regularly transferred to the archive from the University Records Centre, according to the Records Retention Schedule agreed by the University Archivist and the University Records Manager. Some material is transferred directly from departments to the archive as agreed in the Retention Schedule. Material acquired into the collection are in a variety of formats, including digital.

    Archives and Manuscripts

    Collection strengths include:

    • A fine collection of Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, including literary, liturgical and legal texts, and portolan charts, many retaining their contemporary bindings and are extensively decorated.

    • Family and estate collections including the Rathbone family of Liverpool (1721-1991), deeds of the Norris family of Speke Hall (c.1220 – 1637) and of the Aston family of Cheshire (16th to the 19th centuries).

    • Records of local, educational and cultural societies including the papers of the Liverpool Royal Institution (1813 – 1942), the Liverpool Philomathic Society (1825 – 1929) and the Gypsy Lore Society (1896 – 1974).

    • Literary papers ranging from a Medieval English manuscript of Piers Plowman to acquisitions of twentieth century writers, most notably the Liverpool Poets Roger McGough, Brian Patten and Adrian Henri.

    Other major collections are the collected papers of the Rt Hon the Lord Owen, former Foreign Secretary, founded of the SDP and Chancellor of the University of Liverpool; and the Cunard Archive, which contains most of the surviving business records produced by the Cunard shipping company since 1878. Material acquired into the collection are in a variety of formats, including digital.

    Special Collections

    The book collections contain around 70,000 volumes in the full range of classical and European languages taught by the University and include many of the landmark texts in Classical and English literature, history, architecture, medicine, science and travel. There are more than 270 incunables, nearly 400 works printed between 1501 and 1539 and more than 20,000 pre-1801 English books including nearly 900 later sixteenth century works, around 5,500 seventeenth century and around 14,500 eighteenth century. The collections are strong in limited editions and private press books (1880s to 1950s) with many examples of Liverpool printers and authors. Since the transfer of the former Education Library in 1998, children’s literature has been a major strength of the collections. They also incorporate the former libraries of historic Liverpool learned societies, notably the Liverpool Royal Institution, and the earliest and most valuable parts of the University’s former departmental libraries. More modern items include the books acquired alongside archival collections, notably the Liverpool Poets and Cunard Archives.

    Science Fiction Collections

    The science fiction collections held by SCA comprise Europe’s largest catalogued collection of science fiction material. The most significant part of the collection is that belonging to the Science Fiction Foundation. In addition to the Foundation’s collection, there is a small collection of science fiction archives owned by the University of Liverpool. These include the Olaf Stapledon, John Wyndham, Eric Frank Russell and Brian Aldiss archives, and the research materials of Professor I.F. Clarke. SCA has recently acquired the libraries of Brian Aldiss and Arthur C. Clarke, which contain both printed and archival items. Material acquired into the Sci Fi collections are in a variety of formats, including digital.

    Institute of Popular Music Archive

    The Institute of Popular Music Archive is a large, unique and wide-ranging collection of sound and video recordings, photographs, music magazines and the personal archives of music writers and industry professionals. Together, they chart the history of 20th century popular music.

    Deposited by many people over several decades, the archive contains irreplaceable recordings in a range of formats including shellac discs, rare forms of vinyl, metal master discs, reel-to-reel, cartridge and cassette tapes and digital media; as well as manuscripts and typescripts of journalism, personal papers, letters and collection catalogues; other works of authorship and musical composition; TV, radio and theatre scripts; interview transcripts with headline music personalities; popular music research files; and music industry contracts.

    Highlights of the collection include:

    • The collection of the British journalist Karl Dallas, comprising writings, recordings and images charting the development of popular music during the mid-to-late 20th century.

    • The papers of the American journalist and critic Robert Shelton, who discovered Bob Dylan.

    • The Sylvia Patterson jazz collection.

    • Robert Pring-Mill’s collection of field recordings and other materials related to Latin American political song.

    • Local radio station recorded music collections, including those from Radio City and BBC Radio Merseyside.

    • David Friedman’s extensive and well-ordered personal recording collections.

    • The Clough-Critchley bootleg recording collection of mid-20th century jazz music.

    • Photographic collections of 20th century music personalities.

    • Extensive collections of music journals, newspapers (including NME, Melody Maker and Sounds), fanzines and complementary reference books.

    The archive has been developed by the University’s Institute of Popular Music, which was founded in 1988 as the first academic centre in the world created specifically for the study of popular music.

    Source: Collection development policy

    Date: 2024

    Licence: CC BY-NC

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