Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the V&A Wedgwood Collection
A decade after Art Fund’s campaign saved the Wedgwood Collection, Marcus Field finds out how it continues to fuel research and community engagement.
A version of this article first appeared in the winter 2024 issue of Art Quarterly, the membership magazine of Art Fund.
In 2014 the historic Wedgwood Collection of 175,000-plus items of ceramics and archive material, objects, furniture and works of art was saved for the nation after a fundraising campaign led by Art Fund.
This was achieved through significant support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Art Fund and private trusts and foundations, followed by Art Fund’s public appeal to raise the remaining £2.74 million needed to meet the target. This was exceeded in just 31 days, with 30% of donations made by those connected to the area.
The total £15.75 million enabled the collection to be gifted to the V&A. Now, the V&A Wedgwood Collection is housed in a purpose-built museum, next to the Wedgwood factory in Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent.
Over the past decade much progress has been made in cataloguing the collection and improving display and storage. Thanks to the generosity of more than 7,000 supporters, the campaign also enabled Art Fund to create the Wedgwood Future Fund, which continues to support these projects.
For Catrin Jones, chief curator of the collection, one of the highlights of this work has been the redisplay of the anti-slavery medallion made by Wedgwood in 1787. These tokens, made in the company’s Jasperware, were distributed for free as part of the campaign to abolish the slave trade.
‘We had lots of requests to use an image of the medallion in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, and we recognised that it was a really important story for Wedgwood,’ says Jones. ‘We had a display that told part of the story, but we didn’t feel that it went far enough.’
To address this, the collection launched a project in 2021 to work with a local sixth-form college to reimagine the medallion for the 21st century. The result is a permanent display that shows several original medallions alongside the new one, together with archive material including copies of Josiah Wedgwood’s correspondence with former enslaved person Olaudah Equiano.
‘I think a lot of people weren’t really aware of Josiah’s and his descendants’ role in the campaign,’ says Jones. ‘It’s a strong story that has relevance internationally, but also locally.’
Cataloguing the collection
The collection dates back to the founding of the company in 1759, and the project to catalogue and digitise it is an ongoing task. ‘So far we’ve catalogued just over 17,000 objects,’ explains Jones. ‘So there’s still a way to go.’
Future Fund support includes a budget for additional staff, including an assistant curator, cataloguer and photographer. Part of the work involves opening storage crates and examining objects and the business archive. Some of the objects are then distributed among display cases in the storage area or shown in a series of rolling displays that change every three months.
‘The current display is about portraits and portraiture,’ says Jones. ‘Next year, there will be the 250th anniversary of Jasperware and a story about Wedgwood and Darwin; before that, one on commemoration and celebration. It means we can share what we discover as we’re discovering it.’
Connecting with people
Reaching out to the public and students through learning projects has also been a big part of the work. There is a new partnership with Keele University, and two PhD students are working on the collection. Projects with schools include a teaching resource produced as part of the anti-slavery medallion project, now available online.
‘The Future Fund has also allowed us to pilot different family activities,’ says Jones. ‘And we’ve created a family space for the first time in the galleries. We’re also collecting the stories of people who worked here with a Future Fund project called People of Wedgwood.’ For scholars working in the archive, the new Alan Wedgwood Reading Room is a space where manuscripts can be studied on site.
Another story that Jones is keen for the museum to tell is the pivotal role that Wedgwood played in the Industrial Revolution. ‘The story isn’t just about pots; this is one of the most important industrial archives in the world,’ she says, ‘recognised by UNESCO.’ To communicate this history, an international touring exhibition called Wedgwood: Artists and Industry will begin in Australia in April 2025.
Like the Wedgwood brand itself, which continues to produce ceramics on site, the museum is a living, growing organisation. ‘We’re acquiring examples of contemporary production,’ says Jones. ‘And we’re really excited to be able to bring the galleries up to date in 2025 with a display of these. We’re looking forward as much as looking back.’
V&A Wedgwood Collection, Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent. Free to all, 50% off guided tours with National Art Pass.