Guildford Museum - Collections

Collections

Guildford Museum cares for over 75,000 objects, dating from c.500,000 BC (the Lower Palaeolithic) to the modern day. The Museum's collection contains objects either from, or in some way related to, Guildford, and to a lesser extent Surrey. The Museum's current collection policy means that it would be unlikely to accept objects from outside this area.

The collections can be sub-divided into four sections:

Archaeology The Museum's archaeology collection dates back to 1854, when the Surrey Archaeological Society was founded and began collecting objects, although few have in fact been in the collection for more than 100 years. Many of the objects in the collections remain on near-permanent loan from the Society. Highlights include sceptre handles and religious headdresses’ from the Romano-British temple site at Wanborough, a large collection of Mesolithic handaxes from Farnham, and the full excavation assemblage from the Tudor site of Farnborough Hill Convent, which was published by the Museum under the title Pots and Potters in Tudor Hampshire.

Local History The local history collection dates from 1905 when the Museum began to collect social history objects. In 1907 it accepted a donation from Gertrude Jekyll, the celebrated garden designer, of her entire collection of objects relating to "Old Surrey". Much of this donation is still on display. Highlights include a napkin featuring an embroidered portrait of Queen Elizabeth I (believed to have been used by her), fragments of a Zeppelin bomb dropped on the St Catherine’s area of Guildford in World War I, and a green velvet suit purchased in Carnaby Street, London, in the 1970s.

Needlework The Museum also cares for a specialist needlework collection, highlights of which include 18th and 19th century samplers, a "lending quilt" from a local parish church and a wide selection of Surrey Smocks (smocks worn by farm labourers in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries).

Art As a result of a merger between Guildford Museum and Guildford House Art Gallery (in June 2009), staff at the museum now also care for Guildford Borough Council's art collection, which includes a number of works by Guildford-born artist John Russell.