Guildford Museum Blog

In museums needlework boxes have traditionally been displayed either as beautiful, decorative items or to illustrate the lives of middle and upper-class women. However, have you ever considered the stories behind the materials they are made from? We take a look here.

Malcolm Watson, one of Guildford Museum's volunteers, takes a look at banknotes and the start of banking in Guildford.

Some research into banks in Georgian Guildford got me thinking about the importance of money to the town. Two periods are particularly interesting, separated by 600 years or so. I will cover the first of these here, looking at coins and the Guildford mint. I'll look at the Georgian banks in a second blog.

With the help of scholar and researcher, Dr Timothy Underhill, our Curatorial Assistant, Gemma Haigh, has been discovering more about a scrapbook in our collection that contains drawings by Guildford artist, John Russell RA. Part two of this blog post will explore the discoveries we have made about the object and share some of its many secrets.

With the help of scholar and researcher, Dr Timothy Underhill, our Curatorial Assistant, Gemma Haigh, has been discovering more about a scrapbook in our collection that contains drawings by Guildford artist, John Russell RA. Part one of this blog post explores Russell's drawings and sketches from the scrapbook.

The collections we hold at Guildford Heritage Service have been collected over a century. We look after more than 100,000 objects covering archaeology, social history, art and textiles. The objects have come to us through donations, purchases or excavations. A number are on long term loan from Surrey Archaeological Society and from individuals. Together the collections tell the story of life in the past in Guildford and Surrey.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Friends of Guildford House, Lynn Szygenda, our Exhibitions and Audience Development Manager, looks at the vital role the Friends have played in Guildford House Gallery's development.

As a result of coronavirus, are you taking your food a little less for granted? It would seem we are realising just how important the people who grow and supply our food are. Guildford is fortunate to have a twice-weekly general food market, in North Street, and the monthly Farmers' Market in the High Street. In our May blog post, Guildford Museum Friend and Town Guide Nick Bale looks back at the markets that existed in Guildford over four hundred years ago.

Student Ada Rogers joined the Heritage Services team for an eventful work experience week. Find out more about her encounters with a mummified rat, discovering mystery objects from the museum archives and travelling back in time in the Victorian Schoolroom...

This month on our blog, we are sharing a story from Charlwood Church Research Group (CCRG), who were keen to reinstate a part of their village history using one particular object, which is usually on display in our Museum. The object is the Funeral Helmet of Sir Nicholas Saunders from St Nicholas Church in Charlwood.

Our museum remains temporarily closed for maintenance work, but this month we catch up with our colleague Mark Graham, the Guildford Borough Council Building surveyor, who is leading this project. We asked Mark all about the challenges and surprises that have resulted from working on the project.

In this blog post, staff and volunteers look back on the year and recall their most memorable moment.

"It's the most wonderful time of the year" and we are getting ready for a royal visit from the past! We will be welcoming King Edward III, Queen Philippa of Hainault and members of their court to Guildford Castle on Saturday 7 December.

With the help of the Friends of Guildford House Gallery, we have acquired a new addition to the Guildford Borough Art Collection.

Syrian refugees are bringing us closer to medicines, perfumes and cosmetics once made at Guildford House.

In this second blog post about the museum's embroidered baby caps, Collections Manager Catriona Wilson looks at the poignant stories and emotions behind some of our baby clothes.

As Guildford Museum's Collections Manager, I love researching the stories behind our collection of baby caps, which date from the late 1600s to the early 1900s. This first part of a two-part blog post looks at just a few of the 100 caps in our collection and the amazing work that went into making them.

We have an amazing team that delivers Victorian Schoolroom and Playroom sessions for Key Stage 1 and 2, and occasionally older students.

Here at Heritage Services we are always looking for a new ways to work with different community groups

We have an extensive textile collection. This month we are diving into needlework from the 17th century up until the present day. The collection includes clothing, patchwork and a wide range of intricately stitched samplers. This blog post is the first of small series that will focus on unveiling the needlework in our care.

Now that our needlework inventory is all sewn up, thanks to the help of the collections team and volunteers, we thought we would let you know about some of the beautiful lace and embroidery treasures in this collection.

Our Museum's Collections Team and art historian Neil Jeffares check up on an intriguing portrait from the Borough Collection.

A sneak peek into Simon Maslin's role as the new Surrey Finds Liaison Officer.

Find out how it all works from our curatorial assistant...

We wanted to tell you about the first couple of weeks of our exciting new project...

Cllr Nikki Nelson-Smith talks more about art, science and collecting! Read more about Nikki's interests and passion for innovative industries and have a glimpse in to her creative mind.

Our collections team spends several days every week in the stores working alongside a trusty band of volunteers to carry out a full-scale inventory of the collection. This project has been running for a few years now, beginning with the archaeology collection (our largest collection) and moving onto Local History in 2016.

Guildford Museum is celebrating our volunteers from Friday 1 to Thursday 7 June 2018.