Collection: Black Country Living Museum

Collection-level records:

• Collection overview (Cornucopia)

  Social History Collection

  The ironmongery collections have been actively built up over many years, and now offer good coverage of local products, including edge tools, enamelled holloware, galvanised holloware, and tinware. The museum has 300 items relating to public houses, many from the Fox Inn at Dudley. It also has a reconstructed public house, the Bottle and Glass Inn from Brockmoor in Brierley Hill. The domestic life collections are particularly strong on material relating to cooking, washing and sewing, and there are good community life collections in the fields of education and the cinema. Retailing collections include extensive coverage of grocery, chemists’, ironmongery and hardware items. The museum has large collections relating to daily life in the Black Country. These include extensive coverage of ironmongery, public houses, domestic life and retailing.

  Subjects

  Food and drink; Shops (commerce); People (children); Cinema; People (society); Social History; Cleaning and laundry; People

  Science and Industry Collection

  The collection of iron founding equipment includes 300 foundry patterns and moulder’s tools. There is a good range of locally-made cast iron products, including items from Cannon’s of Bilston, and the Kenrick loan collection. There is a large collection of blacksmith’s tools and equipment, including a Goliath hammer, an oliver hammer, and the entire contents and actual building of a ten hearth oliver shop from Blackheath Chainmaking equipment has been collected from several local sources, and includes a backyard chainshop and women’s chainmaking tools. The museum has good collections in a variety of Black Country metalworking trades, including screw making, edge tool making and sheet metalworking. Large scale manufacturing industries represented in the collections include coal mining, chemical engineering and construction. The engineering collection includes steam engines, pumps, electrical engineering and engineering models. Other trades covered in the collections include cooperage, woodworking, plumbing, leather working and shoe repair. Collections relating to food production include a slaughterhouse, a bakery and sweet making equipment. The collections relating to Black Country working life are the most extensive in the museum. They include material from an extensive range of metalworking trades and industries, mining, chemical engineering, construction, wood and leather working collections, and slaughterhouse, bakery and sweetmaking equipment.

  Subjects

  Food processing; Chemicals; Industry and commerce; Iron and steel manufacture; Construction; Science and Industry; Wood; Mechanical engineering; Manufacturing; Coal mining; Metal working; Electrical engineering

  Transport Collection

  The museum’s transport collections include locally-built vehicles, trams and trolley-buses, and an outstanding collection of canal boats and associated boatbuilding equipment. There are 11 tramcars, 2 horse trams, a double decker tramcar, and three trolleybuses. The tramcars serve not merely as exhibits, but also as transport around the extensive site. Canal transport items include 8 canal boats, a working boat dock and boatbuilders’ tools. The canal collection is outstanding, including extensive boatbuilding and maintenance equipment. The museum’s collections include a small number of locally-made vehicles, including a Bean car and lorry, a Star car and lorry, an AJS car, a Guy bus and chassis, and three Sunbeam bicycles.

  Subjects

  Car and lorry manufacture; Transport; Railways and guided systems; Horse-drawn transport; Inland waterways

  Costume and Textile Collection

  The collection is dominated by women’s costume. There is a small group of authenticated Black Country men’s working class costume. The collection is dominated by women’s costume, including underwear, nightwear and accessories. There is a small group of authenticated Black Country men’s working class costume.

  Subjects

  Costume (leisurewear); Costume and Textile; Costume (workwear)

  Agriculture Collection

  The collection consists of tools, and a small collection of items relating to livestock. Tools and material related to livestock.

  Subjects

  Agriculture; Food processing

  Other

  Other items relating to the Black Country.

  Subjects

  Geology; Maritime; Music; Coins and Medals; Numismatics; Oral history; Personalia; Photographic equipment; Photography; Coins and Medals; Documents (personal); Documents (historic); Documents (commercial); Archaeology

  Source: Cornucopia

  Date: Not known, but before 2015

  Licence: CC BY-NC