The School of Art and its museum collection are linked to some of the most celebrated names associated with the Arts and Crafts movement, such as Walter Crane and William Morris, but also to significant cultural and political figures in nineteenth century Manchester. Evidence from the School of Art archive, alongside the extant collections, will illustrate the story of how this government art school came to have a museum, and how its location, in “Cottonopolis”, would afford the school, and its museum, a unique identity, distinct from other regional schools and collections.
Stephanie is the Curator of the Manchester School of Art Collection, Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections Museum (and PhD candidate). Her talk will look at the history and rationale behind the establishment of the Manchester School of Art’s Arts and Crafts Museum in 1898 and explore the variety of objects that were acquired for display through a virtual tour of the gallery as it was arranged in 1903.