Position Overview & Specifications

This project is for a PhD student to catalogue a portion of the AAPD’s important collection of 19th-century British ceramic transfer prints and designs. This is a collection of 8,000 prints and designs from Staffordshire ceramic manufactories, an incredibly rich resource for the study of 19th-century transferware ceramics, which has never been catalogued or photographed.

Manufactories include:
  • Ridway, Morley, Wear & Co, Hanley, c. 1836-1842
  • J Meir & Son, Brighton, Tunstall, 1837-1897
  • Morgan [Morgan, Wood & Co?], Burslem, c. 1860-70
  • W Smith [Junior] & Co, Yorkshire, c. 1845-55
Placement candidates will expect to acquire the following skills and knowledge from this placement.
  • Knowledge of 19th-century British ceramics and designs
  • Object-focused research
  • Object-handling skills
  • Cataloguing training
  • Public engagement (blog-writing and scholarly presentations

Possible outputs of the placement

  • c. 700–1000 CMS catalogue records and public access descriptions for the most significant designs
  • Internal record shots of designs uploaded to CMS
  • Transferware project blog entry/social media content about these lesser-known manufactories and their contribution to ceramic design
  • Feature article on the V&A website, which can sit on both the Ceramics and Designs collection webpages
  • Presentations/lectures on their findings to The Transferware Collectors Club and the English Ceramics Circle

PLEASE MAKE SURE TO CAREFULLY READ THE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE ATTACHMENTS FOR HOW TO APPLY