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Haslemere Educational Museum

Haslemere Museum houses a unique and interesting variety of textiles, including a significant example of European 'Peasant Art,' comprising over six hundred objects dating from the 16th to the 19th century. There are vibrant fabrics and embroideries from around the world - Russia, Norway, Romania, Greece, Hungary, Holland and Czechoslovakia, India, the Far East and the Pacific which can be used to display the rich expressive qualities of historical crafts. There are many fragments of embroidery designs and techniques which, being small, are ideal for students to use for study and research. Of special interest is the Gombrich collection from Czechoslovakia. There is also a selection of "Peasant Art" garments and Victorian clothing and accessories. Items of particular interest are a leather Hungarian wedding coat, heavily embossed and embroidered in a variety of decorative techniques, a boy's suit made of paper, from Germany, and approximately one hundred and thirty five samplers, including one worked in 1815 at the time of the Battle of Waterloo, and others with special texts.

There is an Egyptian Mummy and one example of painted Mummy wrappings. From China there are examples of shoes, hats, a straw cloak (worn by farmers) and from the Pacific, bark cloth and a beaded bodice (using "Job's tears" seeds). There are Russian birch bark shoes and Dutch clogs, also Russian wooden block printed textiles on hempen cloth as well as examples of Indian tie-dyeing.

Students are welcome to view the Collections, in supervised handling sessions by booking in advance and following the handling sheet included in the pack. A number of reference books relating to textiles can be found in the Museum library, which is open to the Public all day on Tuesdays (10-5) and Saturday mornings (10-1). Please phone for more information.

Textile workshops are run by members of the Haslemere Embroiderers' Guild, which cover activities such as book cover designing, transfer painting, embroidery, patchwork etc.

Staff are willing to come out to schools with examples of the Collection if it is difficult to get to the Museum.

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