Robert Owen Museum. Photograph courtesy of Robert Owen Museum

The Robert Owen Memorial Museum is the only museum specifically devoted to social reformer Robert Owen.

It is located on the ground floor of the Town Council building in the centre of Newtown, Wales. The Grade 2 listed building, of Arts and Crafts design was erected in 1902, in order to provide a Free Library and a meeting room. The Co-operative Union subscribed part of the cost, in memory of Owen.

The bulk of the collection was acquired in the 1920s, some seventy years after his death. Most of the items are from Robert Owen’s time and have a direct association with him.

Much of the collection consists of books and other printed material, most of which is not on display, but can be viewed by prior appointment. The Museum has 55 of Robert Owen’s letters, one of which is on display together with a transcript (his writing is almost illegible). This and other transcripts can be viewed on this web site.

Visiting

The Museum is open throughout the year, except Christmas Week and Bank Holidays and admission is free. See the Museum’s website for more details.

The Museum is easily found, being on the ground floor of the Town Council building in the centre of Newtown, opposite the Town Clock.

There are two car parks within easy walking distance. It is ten minutes walk to the railway station. There is a two-hourly train service from Birmingham.
Other things to see in Newtown include Robert Owen’s Tomb and Statue, and the Textile Museum.

Groups are welcome, preferably with a few days notice. Groups of more than 30 people are advised to split to avoid congestion.

The Curator will gladly arrange to be on hand, or to give a short talk. They will allow researchers access to items not on display by prior appointment.

A Simple Quiz and a more difficult Quiz Sheet are available for school visits. Teachers are welcome to download them and make copies before their visit.

Also see…

• Robert Owen Museum

The Bath Royal and Literary and Scientific Institute

The Bath Royal and Literary and Scientific Institute (BRLSI) is an educational charity founded in 1824.

Rev. Leonard Jenyns – friend and close correspondent of Charles Darwin bequeathed the BRLSI his library of over 2,000 books, correspondence of over 700 letters, scrapbooks and his Herbarium.

Jenyns was orginially supposed to be the naturalist accompanying the H.M.S. Beagle but was not able on account of his clerical duties.  In his stead, he recommended the young Darwin to take his place.

Visiting

The BRSLI is located in Queen Square, Bath and today hosts public talks, exhibitions on science, the arts and current affairs but also maintains an extensive collection of books and fossils.

The BRSLI museum and archives have various sections:  Library, Geology, Natural History and Humanities.

The library includes volumes from Erasmus, Darwin, Lamarck and Linnaeus. Part of the Geology archive is made of the collection of Charles Moore purchased after his death in 1881.

See also…

• Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institute

National Portrait Gallery

The National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery primarily located in London but with various satellite outstations located elsewhere in the UK. It houses portraits of historically important and famous British people, selected on the basis of the significance of the sitter.

Around 1,400 portraits are on display at the Gallery in London throughout the year, a number of  whom are part of Humanist heritage.

• Matthew Arnold
• Clement Attlee
• Charles Darwin
• Sir Richard Doll
• E.M. Forster
• William Godwin
• T.H. Huxley
• John Stuart Mill
• William Morris
• Thomas Paine
• Bertrand Russell
• Percy Bysshe Shelley
• Algernon Charles Swinburne
• Mary Wollstonecraft

Others are included in the full collection:

• John Baskerville
• Jeremy Bentham
• Charles Bradlaugh
• Joseph Conrad
• George Eliot
• Thomas Hardy
• George Holyoake
• David Hume
• Julian Huxley
• Jawaharlal Nehru
• Robert Owen
• J.M. Robertson
• Herbert Spencer

Visiting

The gallery is open daily 10am – 6pm (9pm Thursday and Friday).There is no charge for admission.

Visitors can buy prints of over 25,000 images online and in person via the Portrait Printer service.

Also see…

• National Portrait Gallery

The museum holds collections related to the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth.

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Gallery 22

Its gallery number 22 contains busts of a number of ancient Greek thinkers and writers who are part of the humanist tradition.

Socrates (469-399 BCE), whose freethinking scepticism brought him into conflict with authoritarian political forces of the day and led to his execution and whose ethics were based on reason and experience, not religion

Epicurus (341-270 BCE), who believed that human life had come about by natural processes, that happiness depended on moderation and the respect and friendship of others, and that there was no afterlife

Chrysippus the Stoic (280-207 BCE), who believed reason, sympathy and knowledge were the tools human beings should use when addressing ethical problems.

Gallery 15

Gallery number 15 contains a very famous bust of the Athenian democratic statesman Pericles, whose funeral oration as recorded by the historian Thucydides presents a model of the open society which has inspired humanist political philosophers from John Stuart Mill to Karl Popper.

Gallery 36

In gallery 36 is a Portrait plaque of Dr Joseph Priestley – a nonconformist minister and scientist who aroused controversy with his various publications on religious matters, and was condemned as an atheist.

Visiting

The Museum is free to all visitors and is open daily 10.00am–5.30pm.

Also see…

• British Museum

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The Museum building was designed by Alfred Waterhouse (who also designed the Natural History Museum in London) and reflects Charles Darwin‘s evolutionary principles.

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Would you like to write it for us?

Humanist Heritage relies on contributions from users so if you’re interested in helping us please drop us a line.

Would you like to write it for us?

Humanist Heritage relies on contributions from users so if you’re interested in helping us please drop us a line.

Bishopsgate Library

Bishopsgate Library is an independent, charity-funded library located within the Bishopsgate Institute.

Its collections cover a variety of subject areas, including:

• the social and topographical history of London, particularly the East End
• the early labour movement
• freethought and secularism co-operation

Archives of individuals include:

• George Jacob Holyoake, secularist and early Co-operative Movement activist
• Charles Bradlaugh, politician and founder of the National Secular Society

Visiting

The library is open to the public Monday – Friday. See website for details.

Also see…

• Bishopsgate Library