West Yorkshire Textile Heritage Project
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West Yorkshire Textile Heritage Project 1. Introduction The West Yorkshire Textile Heritage Project, is a partnership project between Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield Museum and Gallery services. The partnership has received a grant from the Esmee Fairbairn foundation to undertake a project which draws together the significant textile heritage collections held by these organisations. This will be achieved through a programme of research and documentation, to enhance what services know about their own and other regional collections. The collections will be made accessible via a website, acting as a single portal for information across the region. A textile heritage trail, linking museum collections with the built industrial heritage of the region, will be created with support from Welcome to Yorkshire. This support will take the form of hosting the trail on their website and printing the final publication. It is envisaged that this trail will also include, and develop links with, local businesses occupying mill premises. The project is an innovative pilot for future working across the region and contributes to the sustainable future development of the region’s museums and collections. 2. Purpose of this brief To seek a contractor to deliver the key outcomes of the project, within the defined timescale and budget. For the successful contractor to work with supporting organisations, such as Welcome to Yorkshire, other custodians of West Yorkshire textile collections/information and relevant businesses, to produce the tourist trail and website. 3. Background West Yorkshire was a major centre of textile production from the 18th century and the industry is still important today. The industry has left its physical marks across the region in everything from pack horse bridges and weavers cottages to mill owner’s mansions and large scale factories. Some of these are in ruins, some are private homes and others have been converted to public uses. The industry is well represented in the museums of the region, which have collections of machinery, tools, pattern books, samples, finished products and photographs. Textiles are still very much alive in the region today. The universities and colleges run several important textile courses, there are several large factories and smaller workshops and many individuals practice textiles arts and crafts. 1 West Yorkshire Textile Heritage Project Gaining an overall picture of the region’s textile heritage is not easy; the museums are spread across different council’s, mills are run privately and some buildings are falling into ruin. This project seeks to pull together this rich collection of resources, to deepen the heritage sector’s understanding of this fundamental story for the region, as well as making it accessible to a broad range of audiences. 4. Proposal The successful contractor will deliver the key outcomes of the project, which are: Improved awareness West Yorkshire’s textile heritage Improved collections care at partner museum services Improved access to West Yorkshire textile collections and collections information Create a sustainable single gateway for access to West Yorkshire textile heritage Encourage tourism to the region and promote partner sites Develop sustainable links and partnership working between museums, textile industry and textile enthusiasts in the region Develop a framework for future projects 5. Areas to be covered Each partner museum service has different collections and documentation needs. The information below gives a summary of the individual services collections and their key priorities. Bradford Museums & Galleries Bradford’s textile collection has designated status and is based at Bradford Industrial Museum. The collection highlights the birth, social development and history of Britain’s woollen textile industry. The museum’s worsted collection contains well over 102,000 artefacts of which 97,000 relate directly to the worsted industry. The collection includes machinery, books, documents, photographs, textile crafts and ancillary trades associated with worsted manufacture. Documentation Priorities: Review the designated textile collection. Give an overview of this collection and its significance on a regional , national and international level. Review and document the ‘Lister’ sample collection (approx 120 boxes), matching these to ‘making book’ records and selection samples reflecting Lister’s and subsidiary companies work. Identify areas and items within these collections of particular significance or interest for digitisation. Calderdale Museums and Galleries From the medieval period, textiles and textile production has been one of the most significant aspects of Calderdale’s heritage. As a result the borough 2 West Yorkshire Textile Heritage Project became hugely influential in the development of textiles and textile production, on a national and international stage. Family companies, such as Akroyd’s Crossley’s and Holdsworth’s became leaders in their fields throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and their products were exported across the world. The strengths of our collections lie in textile samples, pattern books and production machinery, both industrial and domestic. They relate to all fibre types including specialist textiles like moquette, carpet and corduroy. In addition we have a wealth of local sites with connections to textile production and trade. Documentation Priorities: Give an overview of this collection and its significance on a regional, national and international level. Identify areas and items within the collection of particular significance or interest. Record this material in an accessible format, where relevant with digital images, through the website and other areas of the project. Kirklees Museums & Galleries The core collections include important examples of early textile machinery and significant study collections of textile samples and pattern books, as well as collections of equipment such as bobbins, shuttles, shears, carding pads, combs etc. Some items are catalogued in detail but there are large collections from at least two companies which are not listed at all. The social and political impact of the textile industry is also covered, including the Luddite uprisings, factory reform and museums housed in old mill owners’ homes. Documentation Priorities: Conduct a review of the local textile collections and produce a significance assessment and condition statement. In particular, identify the machinery collections and assess their regional and national significance. Create collection-level listings of all un-catalogued textile collections and carry out detailed cataloguing of the most important. Wakefield Museums and Galleries Wakefield Museum Service holds a small but significant collection of over 200 items relating to the textile industry in the Wakefield district. The collection mainly comprises of samples books, individual fabric samples, knitting patterns, ephemera such as letters, business cards, receipts and advertisements, photographs of local textile mills/factories and a small group of items relating to manufacturing such as shuttles and bobbins. This collection is already documented on the MODES documentation database. Documentation Priorities: An audit of the collection and enhancement of records where necessary, including the addition of photographs in preparation for putting the complete collection online. Re-packing the collection. Active collecting of objects and stories from living textile workers. Research into the history of prominent companies in the Wakefield district. 3 West Yorkshire Textile Heritage Project Other Collections Whilst the 5 partner services will benefit from the collections review and documentation work, we anticipate that other collections will feed into the wider awareness work, on listing and the heritage trail. In particular, the textile collections of Leeds Museums Service and West Yorkshire Archives Service should be included. Appendix B provides an initial list of other collections and organisations in the area which may hold relevant material. The project does not intend to create a complete public listing of all textile collections in the region, but will give a good overview of the principal collections, themes, as well as clear information on how to find out more. 6. Outputs The selected contractor will: Provide a project manager, who will also act as a single point of contact between the partnership steering group and the contractor. Provide regular progress reports to the steering group Conduct a collections review on the textile collections of each partner service. See appendix A for outline of the areas we expect to be covered within the reviews. Work with each partner service to complete the individual collections based objectives, this may include documentation, digital photography, scanning, identification of items for possible transfer or disposal. The necessary equipment to complete these elements will be provided on site by the partner services. Work with service staff to set up and deliver a programme of community engagement activities, displays and events in relation to the project Develop a presence on the Welcome to Yorkshire website that will act as a single gateway to West Yorkshire’s textile heritage Create a select listing online of regional textiles collections information. Culture Grid has been identified as a possible suitable host. Develop a West Yorkshire Textile Heritage Trail in partnership with Welcome to Yorkshire, local businesses