Collection: The Novium Museum

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  Starting life as a private members club, in 1831 Dr. John Forbes set up the ‘Philosophical and Literary Society’ based in the Royal West Sussex Hospital. Initially focusing on collecting natural history, members paid a subscription, and a flurry of donations followed.

  Over the years, collecting expanded to encompass antiquities and books. Museums at this time were dedicated to collecting objects representing all human and natural history, so objects ranged from the local and exotic, mundane and urbane to the weird and wonderful.

  The Society purchased 7 North Pallant, Chichester with the intention of converting it into a museum, however these plans were never carried out. The site was sold two years later, and the museum instead moved to 45 South Street. Although seemingly in a period of decline, local interest in developing the museum was revived once again in 1851 by the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, London.

  Little is known about the history of the museum over the next 20 years, but records suggest that it continued to grow and develop. By 1872 it had 480 members compared to the 90 founder members recorded in 1831. Unfortunately, some of the visitors found much to criticise, believing the collection had become both chaotic and irrelevant. The Society had accepted anything donated, and so the collection was becoming more of “dusty collection(s) of curiosities such as a double-headed sheep or a hand cut from a convicted forger.”

  By the 1890s, the museum was in decline and short of funds. Visitor numbers had dropped, and members of the Society were beginning to treat the museum more as a social club – playing cards and snooker or simply conversing. The nature of records kept at the time certainly shows an ad hoc approach to caring for the collections! Sadly, objects in the collection were soon sold to raise funds.

  When the First World War broke out in 1914, the army commandeered the museum as a headquarters. Whatever exhibits were left after the sales of the late 1800s were damaged during subsequent years, and by 1924 the majority of what was left of the collection appears to have been sold off. Some items remaining in the museum’s collection have been traced back to this early period in the history (pre-1930) of a collecting institution in Chichester. Considering most of the collections were seemingly sold and the institution closed, there are unfortunately only a small number of records that have been found relating to how these items were retained in the interim years.

  Local people tried to revive the museum in the 1930s but were again hampered by a lack of funds and a lack of local government support – public support did not equate to financial donations.

  Shortly after, in the early 1930s it is recorded that “a good deal of material was accumulating in the hands of the City Corporation”. Arrangements for the cataloguing of this material began in 1933 with a view to establishing a permanent exhibition. The material was being stored in the Guildhall in Priory Park and in 1936 an exhibition was set up there, using items which had been collected and stored in the City Library over the previous three years. The museum retains an accession register from this period.

  Exhibitions sprang up in other venues through the city, including a 1961 exhibition titled ‘Changing Chichester’ at the Assembly Rooms. This led to a new spark of public interest and an expectation that the city deserved a museum that could showcase the rich heritage of Chichester.

  Local architect Stanley Roth purchased a disused 18^th century corn store in Little London. The site had been associated with corn storage and distribution since the 16^th century and was to become a new home to the museum. The first display was held in 1962 showcasing paintings of local 18^th Century artists; however, the museum did not formally open as Chichester City Museum until April 1964.

  The growth of the collections was acknowledged in 1974 when the name of the museum changed to ‘Chichester District Museum’, and collecting was to encompass the administrative area of Chichester District, as it remains today. As confidence grew in the new museum, some objects from the old collection were returned – the City Stocks and Municipal Moon purchased by Worthing Museum during the collections sales of the early 1920s, were kindly donated back to Chichester District Museum.

  Although a hugely popular and unique home for the museum, as the collection grew, so the need for additional storage became paramount. Limited by space and with limited access and an inability to make the improvements needed with the 18^th century listed building, Chichester District Council supported a move to a purpose-built museum, The Novium Museum, which opened in 2012.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2025

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  The Novium Museum presently holds collections of material from the following categories:

  Geology

  A collection of local fossils, minerals and rocks found in the Chichester District.  Some material within the collection is from outside the district or is unprovenanced. Some of this material is supported by documentation contemporary with its collection, plus later catalogue records, although a significant amount of documentation has become orphaned from history files and is no longer associated with objects.  A review of accession registers in 2012 revealed that no geology appears to have been accessioned since 2007, although material has been catalogued using a ‘G’ number system. This had not been highlighted prior to 2012 as no geological material had been donated into the collection since 2009. This inconsistency in the implementation of collections management processes will be addressed in the Documentation Plan.

  A small number of non-local fossils are used as part of the handling collection.

  A small collection of minerals, mostly unprovenanced and including non-United Kingdom material.  This is used as a part of a reference and handling collection.

  Archaeology

  The Novium Museum has an extensive collection of archaeological material, mostly from excavations.  This material represents sites and finds of national, regional and local interest.

  The archaeological material in the collection is from the present Chichester District Council administrative area.

  All periods of time from the Palaeolithic to the 20^th century are represented in the archaeology collection. To ensure the future sustainability of collecting, a selection, retention and disposal procedure was imposed from 2009 on all material excavated by archaeology units due for deposition with The Novium.

  The archaeology collection consists of artefacts, animal and human skeletal material, and soil and other organic samples. This is supported by the excavation paper/disc archives including photographs, site notes, and texts for publication.  At present, some of these paper records are deposited at the West Sussex Record Office because of previous restrictions concerning storage at the Chichester District Museum.

  The reserve archaeological collection is housed in the Collections Discovery Centre, Fishbourne Roman Palace, which is jointly run by Chichester District Council and the Sussex Archaeological Society.    Along with the Palace’s own collection representing the archaeological landscape of the villa, the archaeology of Chichester District is available for public access and research in a designated archaeological archiving repository.

  In April 2012 the sensitive material (archaeological metals) from The Novium Museum’s archaeology collection was also relocated to the Collections Discovery Centre, Fishbourne Roman Palace from the Chichester District Museum site at 29 Little London.

  ‘World Culture’ and non-British Archaeology

  In the areas of World Culture objects and non-British Archaeology, The Novium Museum holds small collections.  Most of this material is poorly provenanced and documented and appears to relate to the earliest period of collecting in the museum’s history, when the museum began as a “Philosophical and Literary Society” established by Dr Forbes in 1831. The small collection of material also reflects collections of former Museums (including Guildhall Museum, Chichester Museum 1830s to 1920s, and Bognor Museum which closed in 1974, but has subsequently reopened).

  Information on this material has been passed to specialist groups such as the museum Ethnographers’ Group.  It is not intended to add to these collections, as The Novium recognises that there are specialist museums better suited to the acquisition and interpretation of World Culture objects. However, it is the intention of The Novium Museum to improve our understanding of this material, and to improve the level to which it is catalogued and recorded within the collection.

  Social History

  “Social History material” refers to objects and material representing evidence of local peoples’ activities in the community (mainly of non-archaeological origin), at home and in personal and working life during any period up to the present.  This evidence includes not only objects but pictures, photographs and ephemera.

  The Novium Museum holds a collection of social history objects and items of ephemera (such as posters or leaflets).  Past collecting has produced a bias towards items relating to the history of the City of Chichester.  The activities most strongly represented are:

  • community life: Local organisations, law enforcement and education.
  • domestic life: Heating, lighting, cleaning, food preparation, pastimes.
  • working life: Agriculture, manufacturing (food and drink) and retail.

  In addition, The Novium Museum has a small collection of fine art and a considerable local photographic collection.  The Novium Museum also has a small collection of local oral history recordings and transcripts.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2025

  Licence: CC BY-NC