Archives & Heritage

Shugborough

Milford

L3 8EN

 

tel: +44 (0)1889 869137

 

website: www.staffordshire.gov.uk/museums

 

Facebook: Staffordshire Archives & Heritage

Twitter: @ArchandHeritage

Instagram: archandheritage

 

email: [email protected]

 

 

Contact details: Chris Copp, Helen Johnson, Melanie Richardson

 

Date of visit: 30 May 2017

 

Nature and extent of collection

 

900 pieces. Staffordshire Museum Service is part of Staffordshire County Council’s Archives & Heritage Services.  Archives & Heritage sits within Staffordshire County Council's Place Directorate.   Its mission within the Council is:

 

"to create opportunities for people to get the most from the arts and from museums and to support others involved in promoting museums and the arts in Staffordshire."

 

The museum collection covers a wide range of subjects within the fields of Staffordshire's social and agricultural history, and, to a lesser extent, crafts and industry. These include:

 

customs and beliefs

agriculture and forestry

public services

retail distribution

education

craft industries

communications and currency

childhood

warfare and defence

hobbies, crafts and pastimes

costume and accessories

health and infant raising

transport

 

The art collection falls into two distinct categories:

 

i) Fine art.  The fine art collections consist of the following categories:

a) Works in any medium by artists associated with Staffordshire.

b) Works in any medium of subjects located in Staffordshire or strongly associated with the County.

c) Contemporary work by significant artists who have exhibited in the County.

d) Designs and related information concerning the County Council's Public Art commissions

 

ii) Decorative art.  The decorative art collections consist of the following categories:

a) Contemporary crafts by makers living and working within the United Kingdom with particular emphasis on jewellery, automata, textiles and toys.

b) Items which represent achievement in technique and innovation in craft skills and in the use of materials, with emphasis on items clearly associated with the County.

 

 

All numbers below are estimated

 

Roman coins: 20

British coins: 150

British tokens: 500, mainly Staffordshire tokens relating to trade, taverns and pea-picking (the collection also includes the die used to make these tokens used to pay seasonal workers)

European coins: 15

Asian coins: 1

Middle Eastern coins: 5

Modern and paper money: 160, including around 10 notes from local banks

Medals (commemorative or military): 160, including school attendance, jubilee, coronation, agricultural and military medals. The collection also features medals related to the Staffordshire shoe industry.

Paranumismatica: 30

Other: 20