History and Archaeology Collections
10,000 years of history . . . the fascinating story of
Perth and Kinross district.
The collections are a cultural record of how the people of Perth
and Kinross have shaped and been shaped by their
environment.
The priceless, permanent collections encompass archaeology, social
and local history, costume and textiles, numismatics,
world cultures, archives, photography and arms &
armour.
Don't hold back, come and explore our past.
The History collections are:
Archaeology
The collection comprises British, mainly
Scottish, and foreign material. There are internationally
significant medieval urban collections that have been
found during archaeological work in Perth since the
1970s.
Other important elements of the collection are Pictish stone
sculpture, prehistoric flints and Bronze Age metalwork and
ceramics.
The foreign archaeology includes a small, diverse collection
of Egyptian material including a Mummy acquired in the 1930s
from Alloa Museum.
'"Material Histories: Scots
and Aboriginal Peoples in the Canadian Fur Trade" website, funded
by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, is now fully up and
running. Go to www.abdn.ac.uk/materialhistories
select artefacts and stories
and then Colin Robertson. This is a
project we have been supporting run by Aberdeen University. You
will find three of our Salish objects
illustrated.
Arms & Armour
The Arms and Armour collection includes British
and foreign firearms, swords, daggers, staff weapons, shot and
powder flasks and armour. Notable are a pair of pistols by
McNab of Rannoch and an 18th century highland targe.
Numismatics
Coins, paper money, tokens, badges and philately:
(stamps)
collections
The broad collection of coins and related material includes
Scottish and wider British (medieval to modern), Greek,
Roman, Celtic and world (mostly 19th century
and later). There are also trade tokens, communion
tokens (notably the D L Edwards collection), banknotes, stamps,
postmarks, jettons, coin-weights, medals, badges, seals and
beggars' badges.
World Cultures: ethnography
This collection is based on a core of
material originally donated to the Perth Literary and
Antiquarian Society in the early 19th
century. Notable donations were made by Dr David Ramsay in
1825 and by Colin Robertson in 1833. Ramsay's material focuses
on Oceania (notably Polynesia) and Robertson's on the indigenous
peoples of North America, including the Coast Salish and the
Inuit.
Social History
The collection covers a wide range of material
including:
- industrial and agricultural objects,
- modes of transport and communication,
- shop fittings,
- photographic and textile equipment,
- models,
- medical, musical and scientific instruments,
- commemorative and ornamental items,
- toys, games and sports equipment,
- weights and measures,
- religious and educational items,
- trade tools and furnishings,
- commercial and business material,
- as well as everyday domestic items.
Photography
There are around 120,000 images from negatives,
prints, lantern slides, 35mm slides, photograph albums,
postcards and greetings cards to modern digital images.
Notable collections were produced or collected by the following
photographers and businesses:
- Jackson, 1850-1890,
- Wood, 1900-1920,
- McLaren 1940-1960,
- Cowper and Flood 1940-1980,
There are also 16 calotype portraits by the famous early
Scottish photographers Robert Adamson and
D O Hill.
Costume
This is a collection of costume, textiles and
accessories.
Most of the collection is ladies' costume with some notable
Spittalfield silk 18th century dresses. The gents' costume includes
a unique 17th century dance costume and a very rare early 17th
century slashed silk doublet, the conservation and display of which
won the prestigious ICOM Conservation Award 2007.
Scottish military uniforms include that of John Gibbons, Royal
Perthshire Militia from 1813 with accessories and the original
trunk and a cavalryman's full length hide coat of the 17th
century.
Textiles include banners; a highlight is a rare painted
and embroidered silk banner of the Glover Incorporation of
Perth of 1604.
Other material ranges from Paisley shawls and samplers to lace
to a sample of silk dyed with 'Perkin's Mauve' to the world's first
synthetic dye, bedcovers, shoes and fans.
Archives
Manuscripts, printed material, bound volumes, bundles of
archives, a number of framed and glazed items, printed books, maps,
plans and posters make a rich and varied collection. Some of
the highlights are:
- The entire archive of the Literary and
Antiquarian Society of Perth 1784-1914, which was
the original ancestor of today's Perth & Kinross Heritage
Service,
- The archives of the Wrights Incorporation of Perth 1530 - 20th
century,
- The Minutes of the Tailor Incorporation of Perth
1530-1754,
- The Convener's Court Book of Perth 1365-1717,
- The William de Brailles Illuminated Bible from about 1240,
- The 15th century illuminated sermons of Jacques de Vitry and an
illuminated Books of Hours, probably French 15th century.
