Collection: Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  RAMM owes the wealth of its extraordinary collections to its origins in the 1860s. Its predecessor, the Devon & Exeter Albert Memorial, was created through public subscription in the wake of Prince Albert’s death. Civic leaders had been toying with the idea of a museum for several decades as there were important collections of artefacts and specimens in the city, such as those held by the Devon & Exeter Institution, gathered by people who had lived or worked abroad and retired to Devon.

  These early donations helped to establish RAMM’s collection priorities when it opened in 1868 around four subject areas: Antiquities (Archaeology and Local History), Art, Ethnography (World Cultures) and Natural History. Since 1870 RAMM has been a service of Exeter City Council and increasingly collecting in these four areas has been refined and formalised through a policy periodically ratified by elected members.

  Between 2011 and 2013 RAMM undertook a root-and-branch review of its collections by assessing information on provenance, significance and usage. The award-winning review identified collections strengths and weaknesses and informed the themes and priorities for future research, collecting and rationalisation. Full details of RAMM’s collections review methodology are available in a separate document.

  While the core themes established at RAMM’s foundation remain the cornerstone of collecting, the museum’s acquisition policies have evolved in the subsequent years. For example the 2020-25 Collections Development Policy includes the selective acquisition of contemporary art and photographs. It also acknowledges the thorny issue of preserving and accessioning born-digital material, even though at the current time the museum sector does not have an agreed solution.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2020

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  RAMM houses a varied collection well in excess of a million items. The principal subject areas are classified under the headings of Antiquities, Costume and Textiles, Decorative Art, Ethnography, Fine Art, Natural Sciences and Social History.

  Alongside (and sometimes within) the principal subject areas, RAMM’s holdings also incorporate inter-disciplinary material, such as Numismatics, Contemporary Art and Photography.

  Antiquities

  Approximately 58,000 accession records refer to the archaeology of Devon and Exeter, Britain, Egypt, the Mediterranean and Western Asia as well as fragments from local buildings. Many of these records refer to group accessions (one accession number may cover a box of many pot sherds for example) so the actual number of objects within the Antiquities collection is significantly higher – estimated at 1,065,000 (Jan 2020).

  RAMM’s local archaeology and history collections represent the heritage of almost every community in Exeter, East Devon, Mid-Devon, Teignbridge and parts of the South Hams and Dartmoor. The collections cover most aspects of domestic, social, cultural, religious, economic and political life over the past 300,000 years.

  For a small city, Exeter has been the subject of a huge amount of archaeological attention. The results of this work are deposited at RAMM. The archaeological holdings reflect the history of Exeter: from Roman military origins; a Roman civilian phase; post-Roman decline; Anglo-Saxon renewal; medieval growth; a Tudor and Stuart period of prosperity from trade and colonialism; to a less prominent but affluent Georgian and Victorian period.

  Archaeological projects on the outskirts of Exeter have increased our knowledge of the prehistoric, Roman and medieval occupation of the area. For example, during excavations preceding the building of Cranbrook a late Neolithic/early Bronze Age beaker cremation burial was found with a remarkable archer’s bracer made of stone from Great Langdale and a series of clay weights (probably for tensioning the threads of a loom) were found in a middle Neolithic pit near Exeter airport.

  The collection includes a significant number of prehistoric, Roman, medieval and later coins found by archaeological activity as well as hoards found by metal detectorists (e.g. the Roman hoard from Seaton Down). There are significant antiquarian coin find collections, particularly those of W.T.F. Shortt and the Norton collection. These two are of particular note as they contain eastern Mediterranean coins which may be genuine archaeological finds or more recently lost or planted. Coin finds from controlled excavations are of great importance in site dating and interpretation.

  Historically, RAMM has collected archaeological material from the whole of Devon; however, since the 1990s, the Museum has only collected archaeological archives from the local authority areas of Exeter, East Devon, Mid Devon, Teignbridge, plus the eastern half of Dartmoor and the South Hams. RAMM holds the archives of field records, site plans, photographs, etc., relating to sites from both Exeter and Devon. RAMM does not collect digital archives from archaeological projects, these are archived with specialised digital repositories such as the Archaeology Data Service (ADS). RAMM levies a fee for the deposition of archaeological archives.

  RAMM works actively with the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) and metal detecting communities to encourage detectorists to record their finds. The Museum has acquired finds through the Treasure Act 1996 as well as non-treasure items directly from landowners and detectorists.

  Additionally, the antiquities collection includes important architectural fragments from buildings in Exeter and around Devon dating from around AD 950 to 1800. The best examples have regional and national importance as a record of building styles and methods, many of which have been lost during recent development. As with the archaeology collections, they form an important element in establishing a sense of place. Of particular note is a nationally important collection of late medieval ecclesiastical woodwork fragments from churches of the South West collected by Exeter-based Harry Hems.

  RAMM has small holdings of foreign archaeology. The majority of the European, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek, Cypriot, Etruscan and Roman material was collected in the 19th and very early 20th centuries. The core of the collection is formed by the Cobham collection of Cypriot antiquities, the Corkill collection of Mesopotamian cylinder seals and the L.A.D. Montague collection. The latter is a good example of a ‘gentleman’s’ antiquities collection, mostly purchased from dealers and including a Greek hoplite helmet said to be from the Battle of Marathon. Individual objects of interest include: the mummy of Shep en-Mut, a late 18th-dynasty stone sculpture head, possibly Tutankhamun or Horemheb, and examples of Coptic textiles.

  Contemporary art

  Contemporary art and craft in RAMM’s collection has been acquired by purchase (with grant support) and donation in recent years and works are found across the collection areas. Sculpture has been a particular focus for collecting including works by Steffen Dam, Polly Morgan, Geoffrey Preston and Michael Shaw. The ethnographic collection includes artwork commissioned to celebrate the museum’s international links, such as by Rosanna Raymond and Suzuki Mutsumi.

  Costume and Textiles

  RAMM’s collections management database includes approximately 15,000 verified records relating to the costume and textiles collection. However, many of these refer to a group of items, so it is estimated that the actual number of objects in the collection is nearer 22,000.

  The Costume and Textiles collection illustrates the types of clothes worn by local men, women and children from 1750 to the present day, with some much earlier examples of underwear, accessories and textiles. The collection is strongest in middle/upper class female clothing but is better balanced for more recent periods, including every day and occupational clothes worn by people of all classes in Exeter.

  The collection of lace, some 2000 items including documentation and equipment, is particularly strong. It covers European and British laces (and allied techniques) from the 16th century to the present day. The Bury Palliser and Treadwin collections – both important 19th-century collections of English and continental lace samples – were among the first collections to be given to the museum in the 1860s. They are unique to RAMM.

  The strength of the Costume and Textiles collection is the quantity of material with strong local connections, whilst the quality and quantity of items ranks it among the top ten costume collections in Britain. Many objects have been published.

  Decorative Art

  The Decorative Art collection covers a broad field. It comprises approximately 500 items of silver, 1300 ceramics and 400 glass objects, as well as smaller collections of civic regalia, furniture, horology, pewter and other metalwork.

  RAMM’s collection of Devon silver is of international importance and dates from the medieval period to the present day. Most was acquired in the postwar years through the Veitch bequest and through the Reynolds Chard bequest. The Victoria & Albert Museum Purchase Grant in 1995 allowed the acquisition of the Corfield Spoon Collection. The museum also has some important early church silver on loan from churches within the diocese. The collections at the Guildhall are mostly of a later date and with Civic associations. The most recent acquisition was two Elizabethan silver mounted tigerware jugs from Exeter, c.1580-90, purchased in 2012 through the Reynolds Chard bequest and the V&A PG Fund and the Art Fund.

  The ceramics collection is made up of English and continental material from the 17th century to the present day. Some is of a high quality and the collections of studio and local Devon potteries are of national importance. A recent acquisition was a piece of studio pottery made by the local ceramicist Bruce Chivers who donated a raku ware vessel in 2017.

  The museum has a large and representative collection of glass dating from the early 18th century, based on the Clarke bequest of 1928. There are several pieces of special note such as the Joanna Southcott beakers and Charles II flute glass.

  RAMM’s collection of horology embraces clocks, watches and clock and watch-making tools from the 17th to the 20th centuries. Most of the watch collection was bequeathed by C.R. Venn in 1928 and is one of the most important collections outside London, including several very rare time-pieces. Later acquisitions, including an 18th-century watch by Henry Gard of Exeter, acquired in 2011, have filled some of the gaps in RAMM’s collection.

  Ethnography

  RAMM’s ethnographic collection consists of some 12,000 items. In 1998 the whole collection was awarded Designated status in recognition of its significance and national importance. The collection includes items from many parts of the world and reflects acquisitions made during the time of British colonialism in the late 18th century through to the early 20th century.

  The collection represents Africa, particularly Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and South Africa; the Americas, with strengths in Arctic, N.W. Coast and Plains region of the USA, and Amazonia; the Arab world, particularly Oman; Asia – India, Myanmar; and the Pacific, notably Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Australia, Polynesia.

  Many of the items were collected by local residents. The majority being brought back as gifts, souvenirs and occasionally as trophies of conflict. They represent connections made between local people and source communities in other parts of the world over the past 250 years.

  After the Museum opened in 1868, a number of significant donations followed:

  The Devon and Exeter Institution transferred items to RAMM, including rare items from Tahiti collected by Francis Godolphin Bond (HMS Providence) on the 2nd breadfruit voyage under Bligh in 1792. There are also Inuit items acquired by Captain Sabine who served under Captain Sir Edward Parry on the 1819-23 voyage to Lancaster Sound.

  The Reverend Henry Townsend was an Exeter-born missionary based in Nigeria who set up a mission in the new Egba city of Abeokuta in 1846. Some of the prestigious items he received went on display in the Great Exhibition of 1851 and were later donated to RAMM.

  In 1868 art collector Henry Vaughan donated a collection of items from Captain Cook’s second and third voyages. These items had been purchased by Vaughan’s father and uncle at the 1806 Leverian auction.

  Crew members acquired artefacts on the voyages of the HMS Discovery (Vancouver 1790-95) and HMS Blossom (Beechey 1825-28) to the Pacific, Arctic and North West coast of America. In 1865 botanist John Gould Veitch participated in a collecting voyage on the HMS Curaçoa. Artefacts from all of these voyages are found in RAMM’s collections.

  F.W.L. Ross, whose journal records a visit to the Marquesas Islands whilst serving on the HMS Tagus in 1813, built his own museum in Topsham. With the help of his naval contacts, he received some rare American and Polynesian items which are now in RAMM’s collection.

  Ivory and rubber trader Richard E Dennett, acquired a collection of artefacts from the Congo in the 1870s which came to the Museum. These iconic items were possibly acquired by him as a member of the Lemba trading guild.

  Items relating to James Bandinel of the anti-slave department at the Foreign Office (1824-49) were presented to the Museum by his son Rev. James Bandinel in 1889. The artefacts are evidence that Royal Navy ships had lawfully seized slaving vessels.

  Acquisitions to enhance RAMM’s ethnography collection have continued to the present. Priority has been given to items which improve the quality and range of existing collections. Donations, which include Jevan Berrangé’s donation of items from the Amazon region of Guyana and Brazil and Leslie Read’s 1980s Chhau masks from India, have filled gaps in terms of style and quality.

  Similarly, Jenny Balfour-Paul’s donation of barkcloth, the Elizabeth Norris donation of Asian embroidery and the Stephanie Odam donation of clothing from Oaxaca, Mexico, have considerably enhanced existing material. Conall Macfarlane’s gift (via the Acceptance in Lieu scheme) enabled the Museum to acquire a Maori mere pounamu (greenstone weapon) to replace a badly fragmented example.

  Consideration is also given to selective acquisition of items for use in developing understanding between users of the museum and communities represented by the ethnographic collections. The commissioning of new artwork, such as Rosanna Raymond’s Genealogy in 2007 which reflects the significance of bark cloth to Polynesian identity in the modern world. Sheila Unwin’s significant donation of East African beadwork illustrates adornment as currency, social indicator and fashion, in contrast to existing examples from the 19th century. RAMM’s acquisition of Suzuki Mutsumi’s Golden Field of Rice (2009) through the Art Fund Collect scheme in 2010 reflects ancient technique with modern aesthetics.

  Recent policy has enabled RAMM to acquire well-documented items by donation, bequest and exceptionally by purchase, where these items were originally made and used by peoples in the indigenous communities of Africa, the Americas, the Pacific Islands and Asia, and have been collected by people residing or having a significant connection to Devon and Exeter.

  Fine Art

  The collection includes material from the 16th century to the present. It comprises approximately 500 paintings, 3000 drawings and watercolours, 3500 prints and a small collection of sculpture.

  The Fine Art collections are strong in 18th and 19th-century local artists – in particular Francis Towne, John White Abbott and John Gendall, representing Exeter and Devon topographical scenes. Since 2005, significant Devon artists of this period (pre-dating the 20th century), such as Francis Hayman, Benjamin Robert Haydon and Richard Cosway have been acquired via grant aid in order to extend and consolidate this already significant collection. These artists are either native to or have a tradition of working in Devon.

  Artists (of excellence and significance) beyond the above remit, including a John Opie portrait of Micaiah Towgood, have been acquired only via donation or bequest.

  The representative collection of 20th-century paintings, prints and drawings has been developed, with the addition of works linking to artists already featured in the collections (e.g. Duncan Grant, Walter Sickert) and the groups and schools with which they were associated (e.g. Bloomsbury, Camden Town, Euston Road). Recent acquisitions here included a David Bomberg landscape. Works by war artists have lately been consolidated by the acquisition of Leighton Hall Woollatt’s Blitz scenes, among others.

  The acquisition of local works, for example landscapes and portraits, can be of more importance for their topographical or historical significance than their artistic merit. RAMM has continued to acquire selected additions of work related to the region, such as Exeter and Devon landscapes; work with a connection to the region through ownership or provenance; and work by established professional artists born, trained or resident in the region, including artists-in-residence. Important recent acquisitions to this part of the collection include works by John White Abbot and Leighton Hall Woollatt.

  Works in RAMM’s sculpture collection range from the medieval period onwards. The acquisition of sculpture is limited by size, storage and conservation factors. However important 20th century small-scale works include Zennor by Barbara Hepworth, Carapace by Michael Ayrton and Triple Loop by Bill Pye.

  Natural Sciences

  RAMM’s Natural Sciences collections are wide in scope covering zoology, botany and geology. They contain British and foreign material of high quality and scientific importance. Approximately 121,000 accession records relate to Natural Sciences objects. Many of these records refer to group accessions (for example, one accession number may cover an entire cabinet of entomology specimens) so the actual number of objects within Natural Sciences is estimated in excess of 500,000.

  The molluscs number approximately 70,000 individual specimens with good global and taxonomic coverage. In January 2020 George Montagu’s collection of shells received Designated status from Arts Council England. It includes 120 lots with type status and attracts international research interest. It is the most intact and taxonomically important collection of British shells of the early 19th century to be found anywhere in the UK. Juliana Linter’s collection of approximately 14,000 exotic land snail shells is also noteworthy for it includes many rare or extinct species as well as some type material.

  Percy Sladen’s echinoderm collection comprises several thousand microscope slides and fossils from the collection of W.B. and P.H. Carpenter and over 2,500 dry and wet-preserved echinoderms. Some of these echinoderms were collected on the expeditions of HMS Challenger (1872-76) and HMS Lightning (1868). This is one of the best echinoderm collections in the UK outside of national museums.

  RAMM has excellent British and exotic butterfly collections numbering in the region of 100,000 specimens, many of which have been consolidated (organised taxonomically rather than by collector). RAMM also has excellent holdings of British beetles and spiders.

  Birds are a particular area of strength within the vertebrate collection with more than 12,500 study skins, eggs, bones and mounts. The specimens are of native and exotic species with good global coverage and include those now extinct or exceedingly rare such as the kakapo, huia, moa, ivory-billed woodpecker and passenger pigeon. Some of RAMM’s most iconic objects are mammals. Of the 1,400 mammal specimens around 60 were collected by big game hunter Charles Victor Alexander Peel including the giraffe as well as a polar bear and an African elephant. Reptiles, fish and amphibians are less well represented.

  The botany collection is a good reflection of the activities of collectors from Victorian times up to the mid-20th century. Specimens from early collectors such as D’Urban and Hiern are particularly data-rich. Both collections include local and national material. Some of Hiern’s specimens have been published in Flora of Devon (1939) by Keble Martin and Fraser. Also of note are approximately 2,000 seaweed specimens, many collected by female collectors including Amelia Griffiths, Mary Wyatt, Catherine Cutler, Fanny Hindon and Ellen Hutchins.

  The geology collections are strong in specimens from Devon and the South West of England, together with intermittent worldwide coverage. The palaeontology collections are particularly extensive, with important material from the local Cretaceous, Pleistocene and Triassic systems including the holotype of Fodonyx spenceri.

  Numismatics

  The numismatics collection comprises coins, tokens, medals and bank notes issued in Devon. Archaeological coins and coin hoards are held within the Antiquities collection (see 3.2). The most important elements here are the very fine systematic collection of the silver pennies struck at Devon’s four Saxon and Norman mints (Exeter, Barnstaple, Totnes and Lydford), which includes some great rarities, and the sequence of Exeter’s Civil War coinage. There are also good collections of Devon tradesmen’s tokens of the 17th and 18th centuries, local medals, pub checks and badges, and a small collection of local banknotes. The museum also holds a representative selection of typical British coins of Saxon to modern date and a small collection of Classical coins.

  Photography

  An assessment of RAMM’s photographic holdings undertaken by a V&A Museum curatorial post identified photographic material in all of RAMM’s principle collection areas, as well as in the archive. It includes early daguerreotype and ambrotype material from the 1850s to present day prints. It is estimated that there are 600 photographic prints (including unique photographs, original and reproductive prints); 250 negatives and transparencies; 4,700 lantern slides; a small collection of photographic albums and books containing photographs; and a collection related to photographic technology, including photographic equipment and raw materials.

  The collection is strong in late 19th and early 20th century material by local, professional photographers with a particular focus on studio portraiture (cartes de visite, cabinet cards, loose and in photographic albums), such as by Owen Angel, James Frederick Long and Heath & Bradnee Ltd.

  Highlights of the collection include:

  • Four photographic portraits of the Royal family (reproductive prints) by Baron (Stirling Henry Nahum), Alice Hughes, and W. & D. Downey.
  • A tri-colour carbro print, A Domestic Affair, c. 1925, an outstanding example of early colour photography by Exeter-based photographer Frederick Gordon Tutton (1888-1930).
  • Book with albumen prints of fungi (c. 1870s-80s), some hand-coloured, by early female photographer Miss M.M. Clarke
  • Book Hortus Veitchii, 1906 with approx. 50 photogravure illustrations possibly by E.J. Wallis.
  • Group of 44 photographs of tree specimens collected by JR Jackson (including albumen prints by Samuel Bourne, Bourne & Shepherd, Charles Thomas Scowen, Nicholas & Curth and GR Lambert and Co.)
  • A unique photographic album (platinum prints) of Reminiscences of Mysore by Barton & Son, Bangalore from c. 1906.
  • Three crystoleum photographs by Exeter-based photographer Owen Angel, c. 1870s-80s.
  • Daguerreotype of an unknown girl by Charles Henry Williamson (1826-1874), c. mid-1850s.
  • Photographic portraits (originals and reproductive prints in the form of cartes de visite, cabinet cards, gelatin silver prints, as part of photographic albums) by local and national photographers and photographic studios, such as Bertram Park, Houston Rogers, Joseph Parkin Mayall, Maull and Fox, J Russell & Sons.
  • Two boxes of microphotographs, some made by the pioneer of microphotography John Benjamin Dancer

  Recent acquisitions include:

  • Photomontages by Joanna Brown (2014-15).
  • A photobook, Seeing believing (2017), by Garry Fabian Miller including a small limited edition print The White Cloud, looking towards Ravens Tor, Winter 2014.

  Social History

  The Social history collection at RAMM is currently estimated at 9,955 records and 16,945 objects. Social history has recently been identified as a discreet group within RAMM’s collections and we are currently assessing our holdings for significance.

  These objects reflect the history of Exeter and its region from the 17th century onwards. They include artefacts relating to the city’s institutions (the defences, religious institutions, the Guildhall, public health and the water supply for example), its foreign and regional trade (with highly important material from the operation of the custom port of Exeter), its industries, domestic life and topography (the last including a series of city models ranging in date from c.1820 to the 1970s). There has been little organised collecting in the past, and this is an area the museum is looking to develop in the future.

  RAMM holds a small collection of musical instruments including important keyboard instruments as well as some woodwind and string instruments dating from the late 18th century. The 17th-century virginals by Charles Rewalyn of Exeter and the Italian harpsichord 1782 are outstanding pieces.

  The small collection of armour and swords is based on local 17th and 18thcentury material. A medium sized collection of firearms has as its core the high quality products of the local firm of W.J. Harvey and other innovative 19th-century firearms collected by W.J. Harvey.

  The small technology collection numbering some 296 objects was mainly collected between the 1970s and 1980s, with a few existing older acquisitions being included. A number of objects in this collection were identified as potential candidates for disposal following a rationalisation exercise.

  RAMM has a significant collection of objects relating to fire insurance and firefighting, with some of the earliest examples dating from the 18th century. These objects include fire buckets, fire insurance marks, uniform and equipment, and a fire engine used by Exeter Cathedral.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2020

  Licence: CC BY-NC