Exeter's William Morris collection is transferred to Museum of the Year 2013

Objects from Exeter's William Morris collection are now on display in Museum of the Year 2013: The William Morris Art Gallery in London.

All 33 items in RAMM’s Wiiliam Morris collection have been transferred there and several of the objects are included in the permanent displays. The collection came from Iceland and was donated to RAMM in 1939 by Mary Frances Lobb, the lover of Morris’s daughter. The eclectic mix includes slippers, a bodice, a cap, a 16th-century bible and carved horn spoons and containers.

There are very few items of European origin in RAMM’s World Cultures collections and its collection policy focuses on its many strengths in Africa, the Americas, Oceania and Asia.

With few opportunities to display the William Morris objects at RAMM and the perfect match with the William Morris Art Gallery’s collection, Exeter City Council’s Executive Committee agreed to the transfer in line with RAMM’s Acquisition & Disposal Policy.

William Morris (1834-1896) was a writer, artist, craftsman, socialist, conservationist and founder of the Arts and Crafts movement.

Key items in the collection were leant to The Red House, Morris’s Arts and Crafts home in Bexleyheath Kent, for its anniversary in 2010.