Museums and art galleries
These usually have good
collections of local topographical drawings and paintings. Since
collections tend to be formed partly from gifts, it is a matter of luck
whether they also include views of buildings in other parts of Britain.
For example, a Victorian patron might donate to his local museum or
gallery sketchbooks filled on his holidays at seaside resorts. If the
building of interest to you has been attracting tourists for centuries,
or lies in an area popular with 18th or 19th-century travellers, it may
be worthwhile to spread your net wide.
But finding out exactly what local museums and galleries hold may not be easy.
- Barley, M.M., A Guide to British Topographical Collections (1974), briefly describes collections in England, Scotland and Wales. He gives a helpful index of drawings located outside the counties to which they refer, but with no detail of specific buildings.
- Catalogues. Few collections have a published catalogue. However the trend is towards computerised catalogues, some of which are now available online such as:
- Bridgeman Art Library has images from British museums and galleries which have granted reproduction rights to the BAL. Searchable online database of images.
- Discover includes material from English Heritage's ViewFinder, the British Library's Collect Britain and several local repositories in England. Text, image and bibliographic databases are mingled, but it is possible to specify results with thumbnail images.
- The Heritage Image Partnership Picture Library has images from the British Library, the British Museum, the National Archives, the National Monuments Record of English Heritage, the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, the Royal Photographic Society, the National Railway Museum, the National Motor Museum, the Museum of London, the Corporation of London Libraries and Guildhall Art Gallery. Searchable online database of images, which can also be browsed by subject, such as locations and buildings.
- National museums and galleries see: England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales for locations, collections and links.
- Web-sites of other museums and galleries: Museums around the UK on the Web.
- Collage is a searchable online image database with 20,000 items from the Guildhall Library and Guildhall Art Gallery.
- Whitworth Art Gallery has many topographical drawings and designs. Searchable online database of images.