A potted history of museums in the Potteries Part 4 -
In the early years of the 21st century there was an optimistic sense that years of hard work securing external recognition and investment for Stoke-on-Trent’s museums was bearing fruit.
#Stoke-on-Trent #Museums #cuts But storm clouds were gathering. Constant Council restructuring saw the museum service move from Museums, Arts & Heritage Department into Leisure and Cultural Services, then Regeneration & Heritage. The service remained at divisional level, headed by an Assistant Director.

A potted history of museums in the Potteries - Part 3
The 1956 museum building was always seen as the first phase of a larger development and in 1975 @PotteriesMuseum (then known as the City Museum & Art Gallery) closed for the completion of a major extension. The new premises (which completely engulfed the earlier building) were officially opened by The Prince of Wales in June 1981 and won the Museum of the Year Award in the following year.

A potted history of Stoke-on-Trent's museums - continued.
When the new City Museum and Art Gallery was built in the 1950s, the collections of the other museums in the city, which had been mothballed since the start of World War Two, were transferred there. Many of the best pieces from these founding collections are now on display in the ceramics gallery @PotteriesMuseum under the care of @PMAGCollections

Given the current furore over @SoTCityCouncil budget proposals it might be an apposite time to reflect on the history of museums in The Potteries & why they are so important. Stoke-on-Trent City Museum & Art Gallery (now @PotteriesMuseum ) was the first new municipal museum to be built in England in the post-war period.
But there have been ceramic collections & museums in the district for more than two hundred years, both privately and publicly owned