OPEN THE MUSEUM COLLECTIONS CATALOGUE

The Museum Collections catalogue includes photographs and descriptions of domestic furnishings from the 19th century to the present day and is intended as a research resource for scholars, heritage and conservation practitioners, museum professionals, designers and the general public. The items in the catalogue come from the Historic Houses Trust’s house museums and from the Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection.

Although the Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection acquires material across a wide range of formats including architectural fragments, wall coverings; floor coverings, garden ornament, fittings (including curtain and blind hardware, door and window furniture), soft furnishings and trimmings, four formats can currently be searched through the Museum Collections catalogue:

FLOOR COVERINGS

Includes carpets, rugs, felt, matting, oilcloth, linoleum, felt base and vinyl from the Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection and Rouse Hill House & Farm.

GARDEN ORNAMENT

Includes fountains, urns, planters, sundials, garden furniture and edging tiles from the Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection and some items from Government House and Elizabeth Bay House.

WALL COVERINGS

includes borders, friezes and ceiling papers in various formats such as sample books, rolls, lengths and fragments from the Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection and Rouse Hill House & Farm.

HARDWARE

Our hardware collection currently includes a variety of door hardware: door knobs, handles and knockers as well as locks, fingerplates and escutcheons. Curtain, blind, window and other domestic hardware will be added to the database in the future. All of this hardware, also known historically as builders' hardware or ironmongery, is held in the Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection.

Material formats that are not currently searchable through the Museum Collections catalogue can be viewed by appointment every Tuesday 1.30pm – 4.30pm