Social History

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Our Social History collection has more than 98,000 items relating to the everyday lives of people in Britain and is one of the best in the country.

Most of the items date from 1700 to the present, some date back as far as 1600, and we are particularly strong in objects from the Victorian period.

Many items are from Yorkshire and the North East and give a fascinating and accurate picture of everyday life in the region.

The museum's collection was begun by Dr John L Kirk, the North Yorkshire doctor who set up the museum in 1938.

His vision caught the public's imagination and started a tradition of donating to the museum almost immediately.

The collection is loosely divided into different areas, domestic life, personal life, working life and corporate life. The largest of these is working life, but the collection has particularly fine examples of household items and domestic life.

It also has collections of medical and scientific instruments, glass and ceramics, photographs, and documents such as programmes, political material and adverts.