Curator's blog

My nan grew up in a workhouse. Now I have the honour of telling stories like hers.

Nearly four years ago, the Trust embarked upon a research project to catalogue approximately 55,000 pieces of furniture in our collections. To date, the Furniture Research team has catalogued 20,000 records. Having reached this milestone, Megan Wheeler, Lead Collections Cataloguer for the project, discusses the importance of recording all classes of furniture and shares some of her favourite ...

Tim Pye, Libraries Curator, is fascinated by a copy of 'Kim' by Rudyard Kipling in the collection at Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire and the unexpected connection it holds to Captain Scott’s ill-fated expedition to the Antarctic.

Elizabeth Green is Lead Curator for Wales. One of her favourite objects is also one of the most unusual in the Trust’s collection – a working steam engine from Penrhyn, Gwynedd. Although it doesn't hang on a wall or sit in a display case, this little locomotive is nonetheless a precious object – one that reminds Elizabeth of visiting Penhyrn Castle as a child.

'Prized Possessions: Dutch Paintings from National Trust Houses' is the Trust’s first exhibition of Dutch paintings and is now on view at Petworth in West Sussex. It's the first time this group of Dutch masters have been on show together in a historic country house. Curator David Taylor shares what it takes to organise such a significant touring event which opened in 2018 at the Holburne ...

Tarnya Cooper is Curatorial and Collections Director at the National Trust. One of her favourite objects in our collections is a 17th-century perspective painting in the collection at Dyrham Park near Bath. Tarnya tells us why in the first blog post from our new series 'An object I love', featuring a video of her recent talk.