Collection: Vestry House Museum

Collection-level records:

• Collection overview (Cornucopia)

  Local History Collection

  Objects, pictures and documentary material which reflects the past life and continuing development of the community in LB Waltham Forest. The collection are particularly strong in Victorian and Edwardian material, covering a wide range of themes and drawing material from most areas of the borough. a. personal, family and domestic life is well represented, but greater emphasis is being placed in current collecting on acquiring more recent material. More male and recent clothing is being sought to balance the existing collections. b. working life comprises a considerable range of material, with several larger early 20th century manufacturers, such as Ensign cameras, Halex Plastics and the London Rubber Company, particularly well represented and collections of material from small business being developed. c. the collections relating to community life are being developed to add more about young people, children and women to reflect more accurately the borough’s minority ethnic residents.

  Archaeology Collection

  The museums holds a small miscellaneous collection of local archaeological material, mainly the result of chance finds. In 1996, however, the material from local sites excavated by the Newham Archaeology Unit since the 1970s, began to be transferred to the Museum as it was closing down.

  Barking Museum Collection

  Vestry House holds a small group of items which was acquired when the neighbouring Barking Museum closed in 1960. Poor documentation of this acquisition has made it difficult to identify all the items from this source but this material is gradually being transferred to Valence House Museum in Barking and Dagenham.

  Chingford Historical Society Collection

  A small collection of miscellaneous social history material mainly relating to the former borough of Chingford, placed on long term loan in 1978-9.

  Fine and Decorative Art Collection

  There is an extensive collection of prints and a growing collection of drawings, watercolours and paintings, mainly local topographical views but also portraits of local people. Some work by local artists and craftsmen is also collected.

  Photography Collection

  About 80,000 images of the locality and the people who have lived there, comprising prints, negatives, lantern slides and postcards from the 1860s onwards. Recent material is mainly the work of Waltham Forest in Focus, a local group which carries out its own projects and some directed by museum staff; their archive is kept at Vestry House which holds the copyright of most of the images. The collection also includes some Essex photographs, notably those by A P Wire (1839-1914) who was a Leyton headteacher and photographer who worked locally and in Essex.

  Oral History Collection

  A collection of over 300 recordings of the life experiences of local people has been developed with the Waltham Forest Oral History Workshop, from 1984 and comprises recordings, transcripts, publications and other materials and continues to develop.

  Source: Cornucopia

  Date: Not known, but before 2015

  Licence: CC BY-NC