Spode Museum
Encyclopedia
THE SPODE MUSEUM TRUST
The Spode Museum Trust was established in 1987, in order to protect the Spode Archive in perpetuity. The Spode Archive includes some 40,000 ceramic items spanning over 200 years from the late 18th Century to 2008. It also includes some 25,000 engraved copper plates from which transfer prints were made for printed ceramic wares. There are also collections of antique factory tools, furniture and moulds and ¼ million Spode and Copeland documents including watercolour paintings of some 70,000 ceramic patterns.
Because of time span and its near-completeness, the Archive enables unique insight into the history of a world famous factory from the Industrial Revolution to the present, its owners and employees during three centuries and its relevance to the local economy. The ceramics collection is of international standing, and ranges from spectacular items made for the very wealthy and the great 19th Century exhibitions to a definitive collection of Spode blue and white printed earthenwares and a wide variety of more ordinary wares made for domestic and export markets.
Archives and valuable collections from factories of world prestige with over 200 years of history, are very rare. Spode has been fortunate that so much remains intact. However, following the closure of Spode’s historic factory at Church Street, Stoke, where the collection had been located, much of the collection is presently in store and unavailable to public view. The Trustees are working with a number of parties to establish a new permanent home, hopefully in conserved historic buildings on the Spode Church Street site.
HISTORY OF THE SPODE MUSEUM
The Spode Company donated its massive archive of factory documents dating back as far as the 18th century, its pattern books, its store of engraved copperplates and its ceramics collection to the Spode Museum Trust which was established in 1987.
Many of the items in the ceramics collection were assembled by the Copeland family in the 1920s and the 1950s. Subsequent donations received from a number of sources have made it not only truly representative of the factory’s productions over the centuries, but also one of the largest and most important ceramics collections in the world.
This ceramics collection was formerly housed in buildings on the Spode factory site in Church Street, Stoke. Some of the earliest pieces, the finest bone china pieces and the early blue transfer printed wares were housed in two showrooms, forming a shop window for the Spode Company. Many very fine pieces were unable to be displayed due to lack of space. In 2009, when the factory closed, the entire collection was removed from the site and placed into storage.
The uniqueness of the Archive is due to a large extent that over two centuries successive Spode managements kept many documents and archive items that others might have thrown out. Copperplates and moulds were kept in case of possible re-use; conscious of the factory’s history and reputation, many everyday factory documents were kept for posterity rather than destroyed. This factor makes the history of Spode one of the best preserved of all factories.
Links:www.spodemuseumtrust.org
The Spode Museum Trust was established in 1987, in order to protect the Spode Archive in perpetuity. The Spode Archive includes some 40,000 ceramic items spanning over 200 years from the late 18th Century to 2008. It also includes some 25,000 engraved copper plates from which transfer prints were made for printed ceramic wares. There are also collections of antique factory tools, furniture and moulds and ¼ million Spode and Copeland documents including watercolour paintings of some 70,000 ceramic patterns.
Because of time span and its near-completeness, the Archive enables unique insight into the history of a world famous factory from the Industrial Revolution to the present, its owners and employees during three centuries and its relevance to the local economy. The ceramics collection is of international standing, and ranges from spectacular items made for the very wealthy and the great 19th Century exhibitions to a definitive collection of Spode blue and white printed earthenwares and a wide variety of more ordinary wares made for domestic and export markets.
Archives and valuable collections from factories of world prestige with over 200 years of history, are very rare. Spode has been fortunate that so much remains intact. However, following the closure of Spode’s historic factory at Church Street, Stoke, where the collection had been located, much of the collection is presently in store and unavailable to public view. The Trustees are working with a number of parties to establish a new permanent home, hopefully in conserved historic buildings on the Spode Church Street site.
HISTORY OF THE SPODE MUSEUM
The Spode Company donated its massive archive of factory documents dating back as far as the 18th century, its pattern books, its store of engraved copperplates and its ceramics collection to the Spode Museum Trust which was established in 1987.
Many of the items in the ceramics collection were assembled by the Copeland family in the 1920s and the 1950s. Subsequent donations received from a number of sources have made it not only truly representative of the factory’s productions over the centuries, but also one of the largest and most important ceramics collections in the world.
This ceramics collection was formerly housed in buildings on the Spode factory site in Church Street, Stoke. Some of the earliest pieces, the finest bone china pieces and the early blue transfer printed wares were housed in two showrooms, forming a shop window for the Spode Company. Many very fine pieces were unable to be displayed due to lack of space. In 2009, when the factory closed, the entire collection was removed from the site and placed into storage.
The uniqueness of the Archive is due to a large extent that over two centuries successive Spode managements kept many documents and archive items that others might have thrown out. Copperplates and moulds were kept in case of possible re-use; conscious of the factory’s history and reputation, many everyday factory documents were kept for posterity rather than destroyed. This factor makes the history of Spode one of the best preserved of all factories.
Links:www.spodemuseumtrust.org