‘Monsters’ (detail), Sebastian Münster,

 1550

Exhibitions

Each year, alongside the museum’s permanent Period Room displays, we offer our visitors a special in-depth exhibition, which explores an aspect of American culture, history or decorative arts.

In 2007 we welcomed the Dollar Princesses: American Heiress to Peeress in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain. In 2008 we explored the tragedy of the great transatlantic liner Titanic. In association with White Star auctioneers Henry Aldridge and Son, the museum displayed a unique collection of provocative artefacts from private collections, many of which never before displayed in Britain.  Whilst 2009 saw an exhibition almost entirely drawn from our own collection: American Beauty – Art from Craft in 19th Century America.

For 2010 there is a chance to see spectacular quilts from the museum’s collection some of which are rarely put on display in our special exhibition Classic American Quilts.