The Harris Museum, Art Gallery & Preston Free Public Library is a Grade I listed museum building in Preston. The Harris Museum & Art Gallery is a Preston City Council Service. The Harris has enriched the lives of our visitors and the local community by creating links between people, collections and exhibitions, by celebrating creativity and stimulating learning. Harris Museum is distinctive, ambitious, audience-focused and open to change.
There are over 6,000 items of costume at the Harris. You’ll find women’s clothes, menswear, childrenswear, babywear, and costume accessories in our collection. The earliest item is a pair of men’s silk slippers dating from the 1620s, with most of the other garments dating from the 1800s and 1900s.
Many of the garments have an association with the Preston region and have either been worn by local people or were made here. Highlights include a collection of 1950s dresses made by local manufacturer, Horrockses Fashions, items of fancy dress worn for Preston Guild balls, and clothing associated with the Second World War. There is also a collection of Asian women’s clothing featuring some beautiful embroidery.
Today, the Harris is recognised as one of the leading museums and contemporary art venues in the region. We combine working closely with and for our local community with developing a national and international reputation for quality and innovative programmes. We are a major tourist attraction, welcoming over 250,000 visitors annually.
During the second half of the nineteenth century there was a growing Free Library movement and increasing interest in establishing museums and art galleries in Britain.
In the 19th century, it became legal to raise money for libraries by local taxation, and the town of Preston wanted a grand museum and library for its inhabitants. From 1850, local people held fund-raising events; and in 1877 Edmund Robert Harris, a Preston lawyer, left in his will £300,000 to establish a trust and support a public library, museum and art gallery with Preston Corporation.
In 1879, the first Preston lending library was set up in the Town Hall basement, while a public museum was set up on Cross Street, opening 1 May 1880. Success led the council to erect a new building for both. Work started on the museum in 1882 during the Preston Guild, and it officially opened in 1893.
Today, the Harris is recognised as one of the leading museums and contemporary art venues in the region. We combine working closely with and for our local community with developing a national and international reputation for quality and innovative programmes. We are a major tourist attraction, welcoming over 250,000 visitors annually.
Since 2005, we have been able to develop our public programmes and make improvements to the galleries, though funding from the DCMS (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) Renaissance in the Regions programme.
The Harris has also benefited from significant funding from other sources including Arts Council England, Heritage Lottery Fund, The Wolfson Foundation, The Art Fund, the DCMS/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, The Headley Trust, PRISM, The Monument Trust, Foyle Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Lancashire County Council, the Friends of the Harris Museum & Art Gallery, the Harris Trust and other local funders as well as from private donors.
Collections:
The Harris collections are among the finest in the region and include objects of national significance.
The collections include over 70,000 objects. Increasing and recording knowledge about the collections is fundamental to our work. We work in partnership with other museums, universities and specialists, employing the latest scientific techniques to uncover the stories behind our objects, for instance to discover details of the origins of ancient human skulls uncovered during the 19th Century Preston Dock excavations.
Fine Art Collection:
The Harris fine art collection contains paintings, watercolours, drawings, prints, sculpture and books, from the 12th century to the present day.
Decorative Art:
The Decorative art collection features ceramics, glass enamels, Guild memorabilia and lots more
History:
Our history collections include archaeology, ethnography, coins and medals, greetings cards, trade and cigarette cards, stamps, local history, music sheets and the Preston Guild.
Coins and Medals:
Coins and medals – the numismatic collection – was one of the key founding collections of the Harris. Today, the collection numbers over 12,000 coins, medals, tokens and banknotes. Many of those with a Preston story are on display in our history gallery, Discover Preston.
Archaeology:
Archaeological material was acquired from the earliest days of the museum. The current collection consists of about 2,050 items. The museum holds material of local and national significance which is displayed within the history gallery, Discover Preston.
Costume & Textile:
There are over 6,000 items of costume at the Harris. You’ll find women’s clothes, menswear, childrenswear, babywear, and costume accessories in our collection.
Photography:
The Harris’ photography collections include an historic photograph collection of portrait photographs and images of Preston and the surrounding area dating from 1850, a set of Roger Fenton’s Crimean War photographs, and our nationally renowned collection of contemporary art photography.
The Harris Museum and Art Gallery is an important regional museum which holds exciting collections including fine art, decorative art, costume and textiles, history and photography. Many of the collections are of regional, national and international significance.
The fine art collection includes over 800 oil paintings featuring work by Richard Ansdell, George Frederick Watts, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Stanley Spencer, Lucian Freud, Ivon Hitchens and Graham Sutherland as well as local artists Anthony Devis and Reginald Aspinwall. The decorative art collection includes collections of British ceramics and glass, highlights of which include the largest scent bottle collection in the country[citation needed] and are displayed in the Ceramics and Glass Gallery. In addition there is a contemporary art programme of national and international artists, touring shows and in-house exhibitions.
A Foucault pendulum hangs in the central foyer, through all the floors, over a butterfly-shaped plate marked with the hours of the day. As a result of the rotation of the Earth, this functions as a decorative and reasonably-accurate clock. The building is also decorated with a number of plaster casts of classical friezes throughout the central atrium and a 19th-century copy of the Baptistery doors from Florence is located on the ground floor. These were part of the original design scheme by the architect James Hibbert.
Contemporary art at the Harris:
The Harris has a strong reputation for contemporary art programming including commissioning new work, showing digital media and work from nationally- and internationally-recognised artists.
It’s not just about established artists though. We also want to nurture the next generation of talent, by providing a platform for local, emerging artists to exhibit their work in a dedicated space, perhaps for their first time.
Library:
The building also houses Preston City’s Public Library, which is run by Lancashire County Council. The first librarian of the Harris Free Public Library was a William Bramwell who retired in 1916 aged eighty-one.The Harris library holds important book collections including the Shepherd Collection donated to Preston by Dr Richard Shepherd in 1761, with additions funded by the Shepherd bequest, local studies material, nineteenth-century journals, rare books and art books. Also the Spencer collection of illustrated children’s books and chapbooks. At the time of the opening of the Harris, William Bramwell was also the librarian of the Dr Shepherd Library which found a home at the Harris having been located in various buildings and institutions across the town.
Bringing art and history alive for young people:
With a dedicated learning team who really understand how to make art and history come alive for kids, the Harris offers both formal learning programmes run with primary, secondary schools and college students, plus a varied programme of ‘hands on’ creative and discovery events at the weekend and in school holidays where kids will learn something new without even realising it!
There’s something for all ages, from toddlers/pre-school children, to events where families with children of all ages can all learn and create together.
For teenagers, there is the chance to unleash their creative side and work towards the highly regarded Arts Award or work with Harris curators on museum projects.