Collection: Warrington Museum and Art Gallery

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  Encouraged by the success of a Warrington exhibition of “Paintings and Works of Art, Models of Machinery and Manufactures, Philosophical Apparatus, Specimens of Natural History and Objects of Curiosity and Interest.” in 1840, the Warrington Natural History Society decided to establish a permanent museum in Warrington which opened in 1842. This initial museum featured local antiquities, fossils and an array of stuffed birds and animals. This was the precursor to the current museum and many items from this museum and the preceding exhibition can still be found in the collections of Warrington Museum & Art Gallery.

  The town of Warrington was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1847, the same year that the lease on the Warrington Natural History Society museum premises ran out. The newly incorporated Borough Council used their powers under the Museum Act of 1845 to fund a “Museum of Science and Art for the instruction and amusement of the inhabitants.” which amalgamated the collections of Warrington Natural History Society and the Warrington Circulating Library. This new Warrington Museum and Library opened in temporary premises on November 1st 1848. The initial collections were still focused upon natural history and antiquities and little distinction was made between acquisitions of books and of artefacts.

  By 1853-4 the museum had outgrown its original premises and the Borough Council commissioned a larger purpose-built museum building. The foundation stone of the building was laid in 1855 and the new museum opened in 1857. The additional space afforded by a purpose built museum led to accelerated collecting during the second half of the 19th century.

  The museum was extended during the 1870s allowing the addition of an art gallery which led to greater emphasis on collecting fine art. The Museum and library collections were formally separated in 1878 and no more library acquisitions were recorded in the museum register from this point.

  The influence of curator (later director of the Museum and Library) Charles Madeley led to a shift in the collecting emphasis during the late 19th century and early 20th century. Charles collected on the basis that the focus of the museum, and therefore the collection, should be education, and that the museum should therefore be a microcosm of the universe. Additions to the Museum collections were more systematic during this period and undertaken with the aim of providing a representative collection in multiple disciplines – for example acquiring artefacts from each continent for the ethnographic collection. These same principles were applied by Madeley’s successor Gavin Dunlop and were continued into the 1930s.

  The rate of collecting decreased during the Second World War and only began to increase again during the 1960s. There was an increasing emphasis on collecting examples of Social History, Costume and Decorative Art from the 1960s onwards.

  The town of Warrington became a borough within Cheshire County in 1974 and a unitary authority in 1998. As a result of these changes the Museum’s collecting policy was altered to focus almost exclusively on acquiring artefacts related to Warrington and the surrounding area and the Museum no longer sought to be representative. This effectively closed the Ethnographic collection and reduced collecting in other areas such as Natural History and Archaeology.

  In 2012 responsibility for the Museum was transferred from Warrington Borough Council to the newly created Culture Warrington Charitable Trust (later simply Culture Warrington). Warrington Borough Council still retain ownership of the museum’s collections however.

  Warrington Museum has historic collections that not only reflect changing curatorial philosophies and local priorities but are also significant in their own right. Visiting curators and academics have acknowledged the significance of early Victorian taxidermy specimens; important natural history collectors; important individual items from the ethnographic collections of ancient Peru; Africa; Asia and Australasia. The Fine art collection includes work by several prominent artists with a national importance whilst the photographic archive contains significant material from the infancy of the media. However, this legacy also provides interesting challenges. It is important to preserve and enhance these historic collections but also to ensure that they remain dynamic and engage with Warrington’s future citizens, reflecting local needs in a culturally diverse and global society.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2021

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  The Museum holds a substantial collection of approximately 170,000 – 200,000 objects representing a range of subject areas.

  Natural History

  • Vertebrate zoology – mounted bird, mammal, reptile and fish specimens. Spirit collections feature the Linnaeus Greening collection of reptiles, amphibians and snakes. Bird eggs and nests. Mammal and bird skins.
  • Invertebrate zoology – mounted and dried arthropod specimens. Linnaeus Greening collection of British and foreign arachnids in spirit. Collection of conchology (mollusc shells) incorporating Col J A Edelsten collection.
  • Geology and palaeontology – varied collection including the T G Rylands mineral collection and the G A Dunlop collection of fossil footprints on Triassic slabs
  • Botany – varied collection of mostly local specimens including the William Wilson herbaria of British plants and mosses

  Archaeology

  • Stone Age and Bronze Age material from the old counties of Lancashire and Cheshire
  • Roman collections, especially from the Wilderspool site and Thomas May reference collections
  • Medieval collections from Warrington Friary and Bewsey Old Hall
  • Armstrong collection of prehistoric stone tools
  • Seaton-Carr collection of prehistoric stone tools
  • Material from other excavations in Warrington centre and districts
  • Archaeological excavation archive material (photographs, plans, reports)

  Ethnology

  • Objects from Africa, Asia, Oceania, Australasia and the Americas
  • Ancient Egyptian material
  • A small amount of European material

  Social and Industrial history

  • Costume collection, mainly 19th and 20th century
  • Textiles i.e. samplers
  • Material relating to local industries i.e. wire, glass manufacture
  • Domestic, work and leisure related material
  • Some military material
  • Oral history recordings and documentation

  Photography

  • Local photographs often by local photographers e.g. Thomas Davies and Thomas Birtles

  Fine Art

  • Watercolours mainly 19th century, mostly by local artists
  • Oils mainly 19th century, mostly by local artists
  • Prints
  • Sculpture, mainly marble statuary by John Warrington Wood

  Decorative Art

  • Ceramics, including Edelsten Bequest
  • Glass, mainly 19th and 20th century locally made tableware
  • Clocks including a number of long cased clocks
  • Furniture including L J Gibson bequest

  Numismatics

  • Coins; Roman, British and foreign
  • Badges
  • Tokens, British Trade Tokens and 17th century Lancashire Trade Tokens
  • Medals, including military

  Firearms

  • Collections comprise mainly pistols and revolvers from Europe and North America
  • Some items by Warrington gunsmiths.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2021

  Licence: CC BY-NC