Archives, Collections and Curatorship Questions of Attribution: Registered Designs at The National Archives

摘要

The registered designs held at The National Archives, the UK government's archive in Kew, South West London, form a rich and unique resource for studying design history that has yet to be fully explored. Looking at designs registered for copyright between 1842 and 1883, in particular those relating to interior design-including wallpapers, furnishing textiles and ceramics-this article shows how the material, including many thousands of drawings, photographs and samples, fits within the wider context of the nineteenth-century design reform movement. Debates around the quality of design, public taste and the education of designers, which resulted in the setting up of the Schools of Design and the South Kensington Museum, also led to the series of design copyright acts that gave rise to this collection. The article looks at the difficulties involved in attributing the designs and the position of anonymous designers working for big manufacturers, and gives examples of The National Archives' holdings of wallpaper, textile, ceramic and furniture designs by leading names in the design reform movement, including A. W. N. Pugin, Owen Jones, Bruce Talbert, E. W. Godwin, William Morris, Walter Crane and Christopher Dresser. It also discusses the potential of the registered designs as a resource for the study of material culture and social history.