BEDFORD MUSEUM

ETHNOGRAPHY AND FOREIGN ARCHAEOLOGY

The ethnography and foreign archaeology collections mostly originate from the collections of the Bedford Modern School where the cultures that the old boys encountered around the globe were recognised as being invaluable educationally.

The foreign archaeology features artworks and antiquities from Egypt, Cyprus, Greece, Etruria, the Middle and Far East. The collection ranges in date from the dawn of humanity to the early centuries AD. The importance of this material is evident from the sites and excavators involved, for example Flinders Petrie at Beth Phelet, Sir Leonard Wooley at the Royal Cemetery at Ur of the Chaldees, or Seton Karr in the Horn of Africa.

The ethnography collection is relatively small but is of international importance as it contains material of pre-European contact date from the Pacific, Tibetan material collected by the Younghusband expedition, as well as significant items of West African and North American, Persian, Indian and South Asian origin. There is also a small but significant collection of material from Terra del Fuego.

Items from these collections are displayed in the Old Curiosity Shop, depicting the former museum of the Bedford Modern School and exploring the history of collecting.

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