Origins of Hampshire Museums Service

Prior to the 1974 local government re-organisation, the Service consisted of an association of local museums at Alton, Basingstoke and Christchurch, under the responsibility of Hampshire County Council.

The oldest of these, the Curtis Museum at Alton, could trace its collecting activities back to the 1850s, when rural and domestic 'bygones' relating to the Alton area were acquired. A small collection of Natural History curiosities acquired by William Curtis in the 1840s can be traced back to the middle of the 18th century. Local societies and individuals began to build up similar collections at Basingstoke and Christchurch from the 1920s onwards.

The appointment of professional curators from the 1950s led to the development of systematic collecting policies for all of the major disciplines, including Decorative Art, Local History, Archaeology and Natural Science. The refinement and implementation of these collecting policies over the last forty years has enabled professional museum staff to develop county and regional collections which truly reflect the changing nature and development of Hampshire and its people. Many of the County's collections are of national or even international importance and are regularly consulted by the international academic community.