Kingston Museum

Kingston Museum stands in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London. The red-brick building opened in 1904 beside Kingston Library. It was funded by Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish-American philanthropist. Three permanent exhibitions trace the town’s story: “Ancient Origins” covers prehistory to Anglo-Saxon times, “Town of Kings” follows the market town from the Middle Ages to the 1940s, and a gallery explores the life of Eadweard Muybridge. The museum holds notable collections. Over 120 Martinware ceramics are on display, and the Brill Collection shows more than 110 topographical artworks created between 1955 and 1971. A Roman altar with an inscription, an Anglo-Saxon skeleton, and a model of Nipper, the dog from the “His Master’s Voice” logo, are also on view. Stained-glass windows from the old Town Hall and a rolling programme of additions in the art gallery stairwell add to the displays. The Eadweard Muybridge gallery displays his bequest of over 2,000 glass magic lantern slides and 67 zoopraxiscope discs. Equipment used in his public lectures in the 1880s and 1890s is shown alongside his photographs. The first-floor art gallery hosts changing exhibitions and talks, while the Kingston History Centre at the former Magistrates Court offers research materials for local history.