'Making History' tour

Treasures from Kelmscott Manor to go to America in the Society of Antiquaries ‘Making History’ tour

Important pieces from Kelmscott Manor will be a key part of a major exhibition going on tour to America in September 2011.

For the first time the Society of Antiquaries of London, which owns Kelmscott Manor, is showing treasures from its extensive museum and library collections in the States when the exhibition ‘Making History: Antiquaries in Britain’  goes to university museums at Boston and Yale.

The exhibition will show in the East Coast’s academic heartland at the McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College from 10 September until 11 December and then the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven from 2 February to 27 May 2012.

William Morris, who was a Fellow of the Society will be given prominence in the show.  Items from Kelmscott - two examples from the 'Legend of Goode Wimmen' tile series, the  'Acanthus and Vine' tapestry, St Catherine embroidered wall hanging, and  Jane Morris’s jewel casket - will be displayed alongside items connected to William Morris from the Society’s collections at Burlington House, including his certificate of election to the Society in 1894.

2012 will mark the 50th anniversary of the Society’s ownership of Kelmscott Manor; the impact of the Arts and Crafts Movement will be further celebrated in the exhibition by the inclusion of items from Yale’s own collection, including drawings by Edward Burne-Jones.

The exhibition was first shown at the Royal Academy of Arts, London in 2007 and then toured to four British museums between 2008 and 2010, which altogether attracted more than 150,000 visitors. 

Through objects, historic books, drawings, manuscripts and paintings the exhibition will celebrate the Society’s work and achievements in the discovery, recording, preservation and interpretation and communication of the past. Other star exhibits from the Society’s collections will include a contemporary copy of the Magna Carta (1225), the 15th century Roll Chronicle and the arch-topped portraits of Edward IV and Richard III. 

Director of the McMullen Museum and Fellow Nancy Netzer said: ‘We are so pleased to be sharing the distinguished and unparalleled collections of the Society of Antiquaries with a North American audience and to have the opportunity to celebrate the Society's contribution to more than three hundred years to the writing of history.’

President of the Society Maurice Howard, who is Professor of Art History at the University of Sussex, said: ‘I hope that this exhibition will not only showcase some of the Society’s collection and highlight our historic significance in America but also encourage research into the legacy of British antiquarian studies across the Atlantic.’