Hitchin Museum and Art Gallery
Encyclopedia
The Hitchin Museum and Art Gallery is a local history museum in Hitchin
, Hertfordshire
, England, with an extensive collection that tells the story of the town’s social history and of the rural industries that contributed to its prosperity. It is a busy, community focused Museum, with up to twelve exhibitions a year and community displays, as well as the permanent displays.
The Museum also runs monthly toddler sessions and holiday activities every school holiday. There are special event days for families, such as Hitchin Lavender Day in July as well as talks and walks for adults. A full programme of events ties in with Hitchin Book Festival in March and Hitchin Festival in July.
The building opened in 1939 as a Public Library and in 1941 the top floor opened as a Museum. The Library, run by Hertfordshire County Council
since the late 1960s, is now in an extension next door. Although it was initially run by Hitchin Urban District Council, since its dissolution in 1974, the Museum has been run by North Hertfordshire District Council
, together with Letchworth Museum and Art Gallery and, during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Royston Museum and the First Garden City Heritage Museum.
of its Museum Service. Although it found that visitors greatly valued all aspects of the service (Hitchin Museum & Art Gallery, Letchworth Museum & Art Gallery, the Education Service with its School Loans scheme, the Archaeology and the Natural History Services), the two museums were both described as unfit for purpose and the Museums Resource Centre at Burymead Road in Hitchin as outdated and inefficient.
The Review had five main recommendations, one of which was to close the two existing museums at Letchworth Garden City and at Hitchin, and instead run a museum and gallery on a single town-centre site. A Feasibility Study was commissioned to investigate the possibility of converting Hitchin Town Hall to museum use, which is scheduled to open in late 2013.
The Yeomanry Gallery has displays of the uniforms and medals of the Hertfordshire Yeomanry
and Artillery, formed in 1805 to constitute a "Home Guard" against Napoleonic invasion.
the Elder (1805-1870) and his son Samuel (1840-1919).
period, but the collection includes items from the 18th century to the present day. Among the wide range of garments are christening robes, wedding dresses and mourning clothes, evening gowns, wartime utility clothing, uniforms and modern high street clothing.
The textile collection includes examples of the many different craft skills which were particularly popular among ladies in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. There are patchwork quilts, samplers, lace and embroidery. We also hold a large collection of fashion related material including fashion plates, magazines, shop and mail order catalogues, magazines, newspaper adverts and photographs. All of these are valuable as records of the clothes that people have worn and the way that they wore them.
The Museum also has a collection of dolls from the eighteenth century to the 1990s, including elegant wooden, wax and china dolls, homely rag dolls to well known plastic figures like Barbie and Action Man.
was an early foundation and collected memorabilia for a small museum. When the collection grew too large, it was passed to the Museums Service. It contains many items of national significance, some of which are on loan to the National Football Museum
, originally in Preston, Lancashire, and moved to Urbis
in Manchester city centre
in 2011.
In the 1980s, the Hitchin Comet
newspaper transferred its back collection of glass negatives to the museum. These are mostly in 5" x 4" format.
The Museum also has an extensive archive and newspaper collection. Items from these collections can be looked at in a Research Room, which can be booked for a morning or afternoon.
The Hertfordshire Yeomanry
The Hertfordshire Yeomanry Trust´s collection of uniforms, badges, weapons and other militaria is held by the Museums service, part of which is on display at Hitchin Museum. Its archive of records and photographs is held by Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies in Hertford
.
Letchworth Museum & Art Gallery
List of museums in Hertfordshire
Hitchin
Hitchin is a town in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 30,360.-History:Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce people mentioned in a 7th century document, the Tribal Hidage. The tribal name is Brittonic rather than Old English and derives from *siccā, meaning...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, England, with an extensive collection that tells the story of the town’s social history and of the rural industries that contributed to its prosperity. It is a busy, community focused Museum, with up to twelve exhibitions a year and community displays, as well as the permanent displays.
The Museum also runs monthly toddler sessions and holiday activities every school holiday. There are special event days for families, such as Hitchin Lavender Day in July as well as talks and walks for adults. A full programme of events ties in with Hitchin Book Festival in March and Hitchin Festival in July.
History of the Museum
Hitchin Museum was founded in 1939 by the Hitchin & District Regional Survey Association in a house given by Ralph & Hubert Moss, grocers in the town. The house, formerly known as Agadir and subsequently as Charnwood, was built in 1825 and has a south front dating from c 1840.The building opened in 1939 as a Public Library and in 1941 the top floor opened as a Museum. The Library, run by Hertfordshire County Council
Hertfordshire County Council
Hertfordshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hertfordshire, in England, the United Kingdom. It currently consists of 77 councillors, and is controlled by the Conservative Party, which has 55 councillors, 17 Liberal Democrats, versus 3 Labour...
since the late 1960s, is now in an extension next door. Although it was initially run by Hitchin Urban District Council, since its dissolution in 1974, the Museum has been run by North Hertfordshire District Council
North Hertfordshire District Council
North Hertfordshire District Council is the local authority for the North Hertfordshire non-metropolitan district of England, the United Kingdom. North Hertfordshire covers the north-eastern part of Hertfordshire, in the East of England region...
, together with Letchworth Museum and Art Gallery and, during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Royston Museum and the First Garden City Heritage Museum.
Recent Years
In 2004-5, North Hertfordshire District Council undertook a Fundamental Service ReviewBest value
Best Value is government policy in the United Kingdom affecting the provision of public services in England and Wales. In Wales, Best Value is known as the Wales Programme for Improvement.- Introduction :...
of its Museum Service. Although it found that visitors greatly valued all aspects of the service (Hitchin Museum & Art Gallery, Letchworth Museum & Art Gallery, the Education Service with its School Loans scheme, the Archaeology and the Natural History Services), the two museums were both described as unfit for purpose and the Museums Resource Centre at Burymead Road in Hitchin as outdated and inefficient.
The Review had five main recommendations, one of which was to close the two existing museums at Letchworth Garden City and at Hitchin, and instead run a museum and gallery on a single town-centre site. A Feasibility Study was commissioned to investigate the possibility of converting Hitchin Town Hall to museum use, which is scheduled to open in late 2013.
Description
Hitchin Museum and Art Gallery has six main galleries: two art galleries, one on either side of the front door, and a social history gallery on the ground floor, which leads into the Yeomanry Gallery. Upstairs are the Costume Gallery and the Pharmacy Gallery.The Yeomanry Gallery has displays of the uniforms and medals of the Hertfordshire Yeomanry
Hertfordshire Yeomanry
The Hertfordshire Yeomanry is a British Army unit specializing in artillery and yeomanry that can trace its formation to the late 18th century. First seeing service in the Boer War, it subsequently served in both World Wars....
and Artillery, formed in 1805 to constitute a "Home Guard" against Napoleonic invasion.
Art
The Art Collections principally comprise works by local artists, especially the Quaker brewers Samuel LucasSamuel Lucas (1805-1870)
Samuel Lucas was a British amateur painter who worked in Hitchin as a brewer.-Biography:Samuel Lucas was born, lived and died in Hitchin in Hertfordshire. Because his family were in the Society of Friends, Samuel was required to concentrate on his academic stidues although his primary interest...
the Elder (1805-1870) and his son Samuel (1840-1919).
Costume
The costume collection comprises some 4000 items and is thought to be the largest collection of its kind in the county. It includes men’s, women’s and children’s clothes and accessories, household furnishings and needlework samplers. A large proportion of the items date to the VictorianVictorian
Victorian may mean:*Of or relating to Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom*Victorian era , a term derived from the lengthy 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria and particularity various styles, ideas, and trends associated with that era:...
period, but the collection includes items from the 18th century to the present day. Among the wide range of garments are christening robes, wedding dresses and mourning clothes, evening gowns, wartime utility clothing, uniforms and modern high street clothing.
The textile collection includes examples of the many different craft skills which were particularly popular among ladies in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. There are patchwork quilts, samplers, lace and embroidery. We also hold a large collection of fashion related material including fashion plates, magazines, shop and mail order catalogues, magazines, newspaper adverts and photographs. All of these are valuable as records of the clothes that people have worn and the way that they wore them.
The Museum also has a collection of dolls from the eighteenth century to the 1990s, including elegant wooden, wax and china dolls, homely rag dolls to well known plastic figures like Barbie and Action Man.
Football Collection
Hitchin Town Football ClubHitchin Town F.C.
Hitchin Town Football Club are an English semi-professional football club based in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. They will compete in the Southern Football League's Premier Division for the 2011–12 season...
was an early foundation and collected memorabilia for a small museum. When the collection grew too large, it was passed to the Museums Service. It contains many items of national significance, some of which are on loan to the National Football Museum
National Football Museum
The National Football Museum was a museum in Preston, Lancashire, England founded to preserve, conserve and interpret several important collections of association football memorabilia. It was built outside Deepdale, which as of 2010 is the oldest continuously used football league ground in the world...
, originally in Preston, Lancashire, and moved to Urbis
Urbis
Urbis is an exhibition centre located in Manchester, England. From 2002 to 2010, the centre hosted changing exhibits on popular culture topics including urban living, art, music, fashion, photography and videogames alongside talks, gigs and special events....
in Manchester city centre
Manchester City Centre
Manchester city centre is the central business district of Manchester, England. It lies within the Manchester Inner Ring Road, next to the River Irwell...
in 2011.
Photography and Archives
The Museum has an extensive photographic collection, its earliest images dating from the mid 1850s. Thomas Benwell Latchmore and his son Thomas William documented Hitchin from the early 1860s, providing an invaluable record of the town’s development. Almost all the negatives were destroyed immediately after World War II for glass reclamation, but several of the photographers’ stock albums and many display copies remain, a core of around 2,000 images.In the 1980s, the Hitchin Comet
Hitchin Comet
The Comet is a local newspaper published throughout Stevenage, Hitchin and Letchworth Garden City in Hertfordshire.-External links:*...
newspaper transferred its back collection of glass negatives to the museum. These are mostly in 5" x 4" format.
The Museum also has an extensive archive and newspaper collection. Items from these collections can be looked at in a Research Room, which can be booked for a morning or afternoon.
Social History
The Museum has an extensive Social History collection, documenting the industries of the town and the surrounding countryside and the lifestyles of their inhabitants. The Hertfordshire YeomanryHertfordshire YeomanryThe Hertfordshire Yeomanry is a British Army unit specializing in artillery and yeomanry that can trace its formation to the late 18th century. First seeing service in the Boer War, it subsequently served in both World Wars....
Trust
The Hertfordshire Yeomanry Trust´s collection of uniforms, badges, weapons and other militaria is held by the Museums service, part of which is on display at Hitchin Museum. Its archive of records and photographs is held by Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies in HertfordHertford
Hertford is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. Forming a civil parish, the 2001 census put the population of Hertford at about 24,180. Recent estimates are that it is now around 28,000...
.
The Hertfordshire Medical and Pharmaceutical Trust
The Pharmacy Gallery is based around a recreation of Perks and Llewellyn’s Pharmacy, which stood in the High Street until the 1960s, on a site now occupied by Poundland and Peacock’s. John Perks started the chemist business in 1790. It passed through the family until 1878, when the then owner Samuel Perks went into partnership with Charles Llewellyn. Samuel died in 1878 and Charles 1893, the last two family links for the business name. The shop was taken over by Richard Lewis the then Shop Manager in 1906. The last shop owner was his daughter, Violet Lewis, a trained pharmacist who ran the business from 1930 to 1961. Violet sold the shop site to developers; she however saved the historic interior of the chemist shop which dated back to 1790, re-housing it in a special annex built onto her home. She opened the chemist shop to local schools and groups. By the 1980s, Violet was quite elderly. The Hertfordshire Medical and Pharmaceutical Trust was formed by a group of local people to raise funds to find a permanent home for the chemist shop, here at Hitchin Museum.See also
British Schools MuseumLetchworth Museum & Art Gallery
Letchworth Museum & Art Gallery
Letchworth Museum and Art Gallery is a museum in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, England. It has permanent displays dedicated to the natural history of North Hertfordshire, including the famous Black Squirrel, as well as its archaeology from remote prehistory to the turn of the twentieth...
List of museums in Hertfordshire