The Middlesbrough Collection
Our collection contains items of local, national and international importance, and many are of outstanding historical or cultural significance.
The Middlesbrough collection dates back to the late 1860’s when members of the Cleveland Literary and Philosophical Society Field Club gave various objects and specimens to create a private museum for members, the collection later went on public display in the new Town Hall and Municipal Buildings.
After starting life as a natural history collection, the collection grew to become more diverse including preserving the history of our unique town and its people.
Archaeology
There are over 3,000 artefacts within the collection. Dr. Frank Elgee, the eminent archaeologist and curator of the Dorman Museum, carried out a number of important excavations in the 1920s and 1930s. His research into early settlements on the North York Moors was nationally respected. Many of his finds including those from a Bronze Age hill-fort at Eston Nab and a burial mound at Loose Howe are held by the museum.
Other notable collections include:
- Artefacts excavated from an Anglian cemetery at Hob Hill in Saltburn;
- Egyptian and Romano-Egyptian items purchased from the British School of Archaeology, from a selection made by Flinders Petrie;
- A small Gertrude Bell collection of medieval vases, ancient glass, Romano-Egyptian lamps, Arabian tiles and coins given by her half-sister, Lady Richmond;
- Medieval fragments from Kilton Castle and Kildale Manor.
Other material includes a library of archaeological journals and photographs taken by Frank Elgee during his excavations.
Material from local archaeological digs is still being added to the collections.
Botanical
Mounted herbarium specimens: most notable collection is the herbarium of Margaret Stovin assembled between 1798 and 1850. Comprises two major sections – British wild species (20 volumes) and planted exotics (10 volumes) collected from the major houses of the period. Other named herbaria include the Rob, Hill and Chisholm collections amounting to some 29 wallets of material. Thomas 2 volume collection of British grasses.
Packeted specimens: a few hundred packeted bryophytes and lichens all local.
Boxed specimens: large collection of Eucalyptus seeds transferred from Darlington.
Other seeds and commercial wood specimens.
Coins & Medals
This collection of 1,900 items includes commemorative medallions, badges and banknotes as well as coins and military medals.
Important collections include the Yearby hoard of sixteenth and seventeenth century coins, the Thorpe Thewles hoard of Henry II and Henry III silver pennies and the Middridge hoard of Edward I coins.
Captain James Cook
This small but perfectly formed collection of items relating to James Cook and his family, include personal possessions, household items and memorabilia from his voyages and contemporaries. Published accounts and images of the voyages from the 18th century and material relating to the science and art of the voyages, including examples of Joseph Banks’s “Florilegium” and the artwork of William Hodges and John Webber.
Costumes & Textiles
This collection of about 2,400 items consists primarily of women’s fashions from the 20th century including shoes, hats and accessories. There is also a small collection of uniforms, including military, childrenswear, under garments, sportswear and men’s suits.
Decorative Arts & Christopher Dresser
The Christopher Dresser collection is the largest in public ownership of works by this renowned Victorian designer and has examples of his designs for metalwork, ceramics, wallpaper, glass, furniture and textiles. This collection is supported by an extensive archive of research compiled over many years by the Dresser expert Harry Lyons. By combining the existing Linthorpe Pottery collection with this Dresser material, the Dorman Museum has significantly strengthened its stature both nationally and internationally and has the potential to become a centre of excellence for the study of Dresser.
The decorative arts collection includes a further 1,100 items, mostly consisting of pieces from the Middlesbrough Pottery with some examples from other regional potteries and glass manufacturers. There is also a collection of pieces from the Bretby Pottery, because it was founded by Henry Tooth the former manager of the Linthorpe Pottery, and other contemporary art potteries. There is also a collection of nineteenth century Japanese figures or okimono, possibly carved from walrus ivory, and made for the Western market.
Ethnography
The museum’s collection of around 1,500 artefacts from different world cultures has its origins in the colonial era. Sir Alfred Pease, in addition to his hunting trophies, also gave a collection of beadwork from NE Africa. George Lockwood Dorman within his brief life had managed to collect ethnographical items from various parts of the world, including Australia, New Zealand, Oceania and South Africa when he was stationed there during the Boer War. These items formed an important part of the museum’s founding collections.
The most notable collection is of Aboriginal artefacts. Some were collected by G.L. Dorman and others by Dr. Weatherill from East Kimberley. However, the majority of items were given by the Aboriginal Arts Board of Australia. They had previously formed part of their reserve collection and when they were presented to the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum in 1980 they formed the largest collection of their kind outside Australia.
Linthorpe Art Pottery
There are 1,200 items in the Linthorpe Pottery collection representing around 465 of the 2,350 different designs thought to have been produced during the pottery’s ten year history.
Around 300 of these items bear the impressed signature of the designer Christopher Dresser. An additional collection of 40 items was transferred from Darlington Museum.
Geological
Fossils
The collection contains around 70,000 individual specimens made up of 7,500 transferred from Cleveland County Museums Service; 2,500 from Darlington Tubwell Row Museum and 60,000 Dorman Museum specimens.
Notable collections include those of the Rev. John Hawell, Dr. W.Y. Veitch, George Barrow, Sir I. L. Bell and Howard. The collections are strong in UK and regional Carboniferous, Permian and Jurassic specimens.
A large number of European Jurassic specimens also southern England ‘Tertiary’ specimens. Of particular note are Middle Jurassic plants from Marske Quarry, Devonian fish from Scotland, molluscs from local Cleveland Ironstone Formation, Permian fish and plants from County Durham.
Rocks & Minerals
The collection contains around 5,000 specimens with similar transfer history as fossil collections. Notable collections include R.W. Barstow; L. Greenbank, James Ianson and possibly the Pease family of Darlington. The collections are especially strong in Northern England specimens notably fluorites.
Rocks: a small collection of around 1,000 mostly UK specimens.
Other material includes old plaster models showing structural features.
The library has a large collection of geological monographs and other books including those of the Rev. John Hawell.
Social History
There are approximately 16,000 objects in the social history collections.
The museum started to collect everyday objects in the 1930s recognising that society was rapidly changing and old ways of life disappearing. Initially these were viewed as quirky bygones but the museum now attempts to reflect the domestic environment, working conditions and leisure pursuits of the people of Middlesbrough within its collections.
A large proportion of the social history collection consists of ephemera. This material is wide ranging but essentially based on the history of Middlesbrough and relates to commercial printed materials such as posters, invoices, letter-heads, commemorative booklets etc.
Photographs
This collection consists of about 3,500 prints, glass negatives and carte-de-visit, plus 2,190 lantern slides.
The photographic prints include views of Middlesbrough, aerial photographs, the various industrial sites of the area, especially the iron and steel industry, health, transport, local government and community services.
Zoological
When the museum opened in 1904 its collections were primarily based on natural history specimens. These included many zoological specimens from the Cleveland Lit & Phil Naturalist’s Field Club, the hunting collections of A.E. Pease and a collection of birds purchased by H.W.F. Bolckow in 1874. In 1918 the T.H. Nelson collection of birds and eggs were bequeathed and put on permanent display. During the late 1960s to early 1970s when the museum was part of Teesside Museums Service a large number of zoological specimens were transferred to the newly established School’s Museum Service. It was during this time that the main galleries were redisplayed changing the emphasis from natural history to local history although the Nelson Bird Room was kept. Due to the fragility of the materials most of the extant zoological collections are now held in store and only displayed for short periods in special exhibitions. A few large mounts can be seen in the shop area, including the museum’s adopted emblem – the A.E. Pease lion.
The museum’s zoological collections still represent the major part of its holdings, numbering in excess of 150,000 specimens. The bulk of the collections are made up of invertebrates, especially molluscs and insects.
Invertebrates
The majority of the invertebrate collection is made up of insects c.50,000 and molluscs c.65,000.
- Butterflies: approximately 3,000 specimens including a large packeted collection of Indian species. A number of cased exotics transferred from Darlington.
- Moths: a large collection of UK moths, especially micro moths.
- Spiders: large spirit collection from local surveys carried out in the former County region of Cleveland during the 1970’s. Report available.
- Beetles: a large 19th. century collection of world wide specimens acquired around 1934, possibly part of the collections of Alexander Fry (1821-1905).
- Other groups represented by just a small number of specimens in mixed collections, some relating to the 1970’s surveying.
- Tropical molluscs: around 65,000 specimens including part of the J.H. Fryer collection (also in Hancock Museum); G.L. Dorman collection and others. Mostly 19th century and requiring further documentation work.
- UK molluscs: large collection of fresh water and land molluscs collected by Baker Hudson and Rev. John Hawell, mostly local, late 19th century and early 20th. century. Mostly very local.
- Corals & sponges: about 200 tropical specimens.
- Others: small collections of crustacea, echinoderms etc. Also some early 20th century large scale plaster models.
Vertebrates
The majority of the vertebrate collection is made up of bird specimens, including eggs and nests.
- Birds: About 1,000 specimens mostly mounted or de-mounted, few study skins. Principal collection is that of Thomas Hudson Nelson, author of the Birds of Yorkshire donated in 1918 and mostly on display in a dedicated gallery (see the Nelson Room under the Galleries pages for more information).
- Bird Nests: about 150 specimens including an unusual early 20th century wooden boxed collection with whole clutches transferred from Darlington Museum, collector unknown (to be researched), otherwise mostly single 20th. century acquisitions.
- Bird Eggs: about 3,500 specimens. Principal collection is T.H. Nelson, other smaller cabinet collections. Notable collection of guillemot eggs showing immense colour, markings and shape variations. About 2,500 specimens 19th to 20th century. Many on display in the Nelson Room gallery.
- Mammals: a mixed collection mostly A.E. Pease 19th century material from NE and S Africa comprising skulls, large mounts and trophy heads. Some Australian marsupials acquired for display in the Capt. Cook Birthplace Museum. A few small cased mammals illustrating British wildlife.
- Fish: a small number of fish cast mounts now in poor condition.
- Amphibians: a small number of cased examples mostly British
- Reptiles: a few full mounts including crocodiles, alligator, tortoise etc. Some skins, skulls and turtle carapaces.