Museum & Gallery Collections

Exploring the Collections

A variety of objects from the museum collection are on permanent display at the Auld Kirk Museum, and within the Heritage Centre at Kirkintilloch Town Hall.* At the Lillie Art Gallery we have frequent exhibitions of artwork held in our permanent collection.

In addition to this, objects and artefacts from all of EDLCs collections (Archives, Local Studies and Museum) are often temporarily displayed in community libraries (William Patrick Library, Bishopbriggs Library, Milngavie Library, Lennoxtown Library) and the Lillie Art Gallery

Unfortunately, it is impossible for all of our objects to be on display at any one time so the majority of the collections are kept in storage. From time to time, objects are removed for display purposes or for conservation work. If an object is not on display, it can be made available for private research and education by prior arrangement in writing.
 

If you want to find out more about what is in the collection you can
 search our online catalogue.

Watch this short video for a quick demonstration of how to use the catalogue. 

Here you will find over 2500 records with information about and images of permanent collection objects. This database however is constantly being updated and added to as object records are transferred from paper to digital format to improve access so not all our objects are available to be explored here yet.

Auld Kirk Museum Collection

The Auld Kirk's collection reflects the rich history of the local area. From Roman artefacts to innovations of the 20th century, around 13,000 objects reveal the social, industrial and everyday activities of people who lived or worked in East Dunbartonshire.

Objects in our care range from the commonplace, such as a postcard of Kirkintilloch railway station, to the unexpected, for example, our Japanese Whisky bottle. We also have some very special items, among them a Neolithic carved stone ball from around 3,000 BC, found in a garden in Lenzie.

carved stoneKirkintilloch railway   robe

 

Lillie Art Gallery Collection

Since 1962, this founding bequest of artworks has been developed to form a collection of Scottish art dating from the 1880s to the present day. Around 450 works are contained in the collection, which includes paintings, prints, drawings and a small collection of sculpture and ceramics.

Artists represented include:

  • several of the Glasgow Boys
  • the Scottish Colourists
  • Jessie King
  • Mary Armour
  • Alan Davie
  • Joan Eardley
  • Ian Hamilton Finlay
  • Margery Clinton
  • June Redfern
  • Anne Redpath
  • Adrian Wiszniewski

Unfortunately, it is impossible for all of our collection to be on display at any one time so the majority of the collection is kept in storage. From time to time, objects are removed for display purposes or for conservation work. If an object is not on display, it can be made available for private research and education by prior arrangement in writing.

Our collection of oil paintings can now be viewed online at Your Paintings, a website which aims to show the entire UK national collection of oil paintings, the stories behind the paintings, and where to see them for real. It is made up of paintings from thousands of museums and other public institutions around the country. Your Paintings is a joint initiative between the BBC, the Art UK (a registered charity) and participating collections and museums from across the UK.

Curious about Collections

Fancy finding out what’s happening behind the scenes at the Museum? Follow EDLC_Culture on Facebook and Twitter to get the latest updates, tales and treasures from our collections.

We are now on Instagram too – follow us here @edlc_heritage.arts

You can view over 600 oil paintings and sculpture on the ArtUK website. As part of a project started by the Public Catalogue Foundation, this website is a showcase of art from every UK public collection.

Another good place to explore some of our collections is on the Trails + Tales timeline. This features objects, documents and photographs from Museums Collections and the Archives.