Collections

Central & South America

Victoria and Albert Museum

Central & South America The V&A has never systematically collected textiles from Central or South America but has some holdings from the following countries:Mexico: approximately 120 Mexican items, mostly nineteenth century lace and embroidered samplers and borders, but also includes some Mexican dress, such as…
Read more

Asian: Japanese

Victoria and Albert Museum

The Japanese collection at the V&A is extensive and varied, numbering in excess of 42,000 objects. The items are predominantly from the Edo period but there are some good representative earlier objects and a well-documented collection of pieces acquired from the great exhibitions of the…
Read more

Asian: Chinese

Victoria and Albert Museum

The V&A acquired its first group of Chinese artefacts in 1852. After more than 150 years of continuous active acquisition the Chinese collection now boasts over 22,000 objects, with fine examples from all branches of Chinese art including ceramic, jade, metalwork, lacquer, textile, furniture, sculpture,…
Read more

African

Victoria and Albert Museum

The V&A does not specialise in African art. When the Museum was established in the 19th century, many people viewed African art and design as 'ethnography' rather than 'art'. So because the V&A was an art museum, its collecting policy did not specifically include African…
Read more

Victoria and Albert Museum

Victoria and Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum has been collecting examples of good design from around the world since 1850. It has dedicated galleries for European and Asian art. Its African objects are scattered across the museum, however there has been recent work to catalogue those items…
Read more

North, West & Southern Europe: Travelling Communities

V&A Museum of Childhood, London

The museum has a number of toys that represent Gypsy life, though the objects themselves were not produced by Travelling communities. The earliest object is from 1820, a head with interchangable head-dresses, watercolour on card. It is one of a set of four depicting a…
Read more

Cross-cultural

V&A Museum of Childhood, London

The World in the East End gallery contains over 100 objects from around the world. There is the cloth that a 12 year old child carried her brother in across Rwanda during the Civil War in 1994, a Spitalfields silk child’s dress, Vietnamese water puppets,…
Read more

Asian: Japanese

V&A Museum of Childhood, London

Although there is no dedicated curator for the Japanese collection at the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood there is an interesting and varied collection of Japanese children's toys and games that range from the Meiji-period wooden toys to Bandai transformers! A basic search on the…
Read more

Asian: Indian

V&A Museum of Childhood, London

Gifts from Queen Mary. Queen Mary was a collector herself and had an interest in childhood things. She visited the Museum on a number of occasions and over the years made several donations. In 1922 she donated a collection of Indian figures. These figures could…
Read more

African: South African

V&A Museum of Childhood, London

Wire toys are a southern African development, initially produced by children for their own amusement. Their origins were probably in Zimbabwe but examples also come from Botswana and South Africa.This toy was sent to us by Nelson Mandela.
Read more

V&A Museum of Childhood, London

V&A Museum of Childhood, London

The Museum of Childhood is part of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The majority of the collection is European, many of the early toys are from Germany which was the centre for the toy industry. Other material from around the world includes early Indian toys…
Read more

Oceania

Twickenham World Rugby Museum & Stadium Tours

The World Rugby Museum regulary runs exhibitions; 2005 held an exhibition of the 1905 All Blacks tour. 2008 held an exhibition of the 1908 Australia tour. The Museum also holds memorabilia relating to the rugby playing history of New Zealand, Australia, Fiji in its World…
Read more

Cross-cultural

Twickenham World Rugby Museum & Stadium Tours

The World Rugby Museum has displays covering all of the main rugby playing nations. In particular, the World Rugby Room contains displays with artefacts from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia.There is a smaller section in the room that covers…
Read more

Twickenham World Rugby Museum & Stadium Tours

Twickenham World Rugby Museum & Stadium Tours

Based at the Home of England Rugby; the World Rugby Museum covers the world history of the sport, with a collection that reflects all the rugby playing nations.
Read more

Asian: Bangladeshi

Tower Hamlets Local History and Archives Library

Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives has a significant collection of material relating to the Bangladeshi community in Tower Hamlets. This chiefly consists of published books and reports about the community and published by local Bangladeshi organisations. Files of newspaper cuttings from the local…
Read more

Tower Hamlets Local History and Archives Library

Tower Hamlets Local History and Archives Library

Tower Hamlets local history library and archives covers the area of the present-day London Borough of Tower Hamlets; the original East End of London which, until 1965, comprised of the Boroughs of Bethnal Green, Poplar and Stepney.If you are interested in a building in the…
Read more

Cross-cultural

The Women’s Library

Material relating to East End Women – Wakefield Trust Oral History.In 2002 Kate Melvin was commissioned to carry out an oral history project by The Women’s Library with funding provided by the Wakefield Trust. This project was to collect 30 oral histories of older women…
Read more

Caribbean

The Women’s Library

The ephemera and periodicals collections contain material on organisations including Southall Black Sisters, Black women's involvement in Greenham Common, and Black Women for Wages for Housework.Most periodical titles can be found on the Library's online catalogue. Details of the ephemera collection are available in the…
Read more

African

The Women’s Library

The ephemera and periodicals collections contain material on organisations including Southall Black Sisters, Black women's involvement in Greenham Common, and Black Women for Wages for Housework.Most periodical titles can be found on the Library's online catalogue. Details of the ephemera collection are available in the…
Read more

The Women's Library - collection overview

The Women’s Library

The Women’s Library collections hold material relating to women in diverse communities across subject areas including feminism, employment, fiction and biography.You can search for details of individual items through The Women's Library online catalogued. The Printed Collections catalogue details are given on the venue's website.
Read more

Search Collections