We are delighted to have been able to add two new items to our collection, thanks to generous financial support from national and local funders.
‘Hayricks’ Mary Dering Curtois, c.1900
Art dealer Florence Evans contacted us because she had acquired a painting by Mary Dering Curtois (1854-1928). Her research led her to our website and a piece by Alison Bailey Thanks to a successful bid to the V&A Purchase Grant Fund with matching funding from The Amersham Arts Society, the Friends of Amersham Museum, and individual donors Edward Copisarow and Gary Gotch, we have been able to buy the painting for the collection. As a local woman artist with such an interesting life story, we are thrilled to be able to add the work to the collection, and we look forward to putting it on display.
Colenso family photo album, c.1899-1911
Antiquarian book dealer Gilleasbuig Ferguson got in touch asking if we might be interested in a photo album that had belonged to the Colenso family of Elangeni House, Chesham Bois, that formed part of a house clearance of a manse outside Inverness. Volunteer and Trustee Nick Gammage had already carried out significant research into the family but this previously unknown album includes 63 photos including of the house, family portraits (including the dogs and ponies), and images of their close friends prime minister Ramsay MacDonald and his wife Margaret. The Amersham Society has very generously funded this acquisition, and we are excited to carry out and share further research about its contents.