Museum of London Ceramics and Glass project
The ceramics and glass collection is part of the Museum of London's designated collections. The project to develop the storage and access to the collection was funded by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), through its Designation Challenge Fund (DCF).
This page describes the project and its outcomes, based on a final report submitted to MLA in May 2004.
The aim of the project was to provide access to the Museum's collection of ceramics and glass, both physically and on-line and to develop ways to engage the public.
At the start of the project, the collection was inaccessible in the Museum's external store, having been packed in 1300 boxes when the previous storage area had to be closed in advance of building work at the Museum at London Wall.
During the project, one of the bays at the external store was fitted out, new storage units were installed and the collection was unpacked, reorganised, catalogued, digitised and incorporated in the new units. The new storage space and units have provided excellent physical access to a collection that had previously been in inadequate cupboards in an unsuitable basement area of the Museum.
The information resources developed during this work were added to the Museum's internal database. A new Web site was developed with access to this information and other details about the collection. The database and Web site include 26,000 catalogue records, 13,000 digital images, 800 subject records, 100 publication records, 200 maker records and strong inter-linking between the information resources. In addition, the Web site includes contextual information about each of the major elements of the collection.
A series of events, study days and community activities were held during the last three months of the project, to promote the collection and the new facilities. These were well received and provided feedback for future similar events for both the general public and specialists. The open days demonstrated to the Museum the interest and enthusiasm for the collection by both specialists and the general public.
Each of the three main objectives is discussed in more detail on the following pages.
Objective 1. New storage facilities and good physical access
Objective 2. Reorganisation and development of the information about the collection
Objective 3. Making the collection accessible through events, study days and on-line access