A Unique Memorial
Visitors to the museum last November (2018) may remember seeing our exhibition, For The Fallen, which was centered around a unique, painted wall hanging, created to commemorate and honour the 5th Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment. One year later, at this time of remembrance, I wanted to revisit the history and meaning of this special object. […]
Bombing The Potteries
Early this year we hosted David, a History student eager to help us catalogue and digitise some of our Second World War collections. One of David’s jobs was to scan in a scrapbook recording air raid damage across the city. Here’s what David uncovered in some of his own words: I find it hard to […]
The Pottery riots in Burslem, August 1842
In the ceramics collection here at PMAG there are three items closely connected with the riots of 1842, each given to one of the protagonists: the man in charge of the Burslem police force, George Ryles; Captain Thomas Powys who gave the order to fire on the rioters; and the Chartist orator, Thomas Cooper, who […]
Garnets & Gold – What’s new in the Staffordshire Hoard Gallery?
If you follow us on social media you might have picked up subtle hints that July 2019 marks the 10th anniversary of the discovery of the Staffordshire Hoard. Needless to say, it’s making many of us here at PMAG feel very old! To commemorate this event we are holding a series of exciting events throughout […]
Shortlisted! Family Friendly Museum Award 2019
The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery has been shortlisted for the prestigious Family Friendly Museum Award 2019. UK charity Kids in Museums awards the honour annually to one museum, gallery, historic home or heritage site in the UK that goes the extra mile to provide a great experience for families. It is the only museum […]
Crash Landings
It’s no secret that Spitfire RW388 didn’t have the longest flying career. It was built in 1945 and grounded permanently in 1952. Unfortunately, our collection lacks detailed evidence for the aircraft’s activities during those seven years. So I was very excited when our close partner, Operation Spitfire, drew my attention to some documents I’d never […]
Hot off the Scanner
Digitisation is an important part of the core work of the collections team at the museum. Digital images of objects are vital for our collections database (helping us find and count objects in stores!), and allow us to share our collections more widely with the public across a variety of digital platforms which include social […]
New Acquisition to the art collection
Still Life with Pigeon (1928) by William Coldstream (1908-1987) We are always very grateful that people generously offer us items for the museum collections. We were recently delighted by a gift of the painting, Still Life with Pigeon (1928) by William Coldstream (1908-1987). Coldstream was one of the most influential British painters of the 20th […]
Spitfire Progress – Old Paint and New Parts
Work continues at Medway Aircraft Preservation Society Ltd (MAPSL) readying Spitfire RW388 for its return to the city in 2020. If you haven’t already, check out our previous Spitfire blogs for the story so far. One of the first jobs MAPSL needed to do was strip layers of old paint in order to prime and […]
Pursuing the Archaeology of the Peak District
The archaeology collections at the Potteries Museum cover many parts of Staffordshire, including parts of the county that fall within the boundaries of the Peak District National Park. I’m currently involved in a project, working closely with Buxton Museum and Art Gallery, to track down where archaeological collections from the Peak District have ended up. […]