Museums And Archives

The Lost Flowers – recovering the stories of the Collinson watercolours

We want to open up access to the Collinson collection ‘Flora of Northumberland & Durham’ at Newcastle City Library and use it to inspire older people and people living with dementia in Newcastle to support nature recovery. We want to find out how and why the Collinson watercolours were produced, shining a light on the achievements of the unknown but probably female artists. We want to help build a picture of the variety and distribution of wildflower species across the region during the early decades of the 19th century and consider how things have changed. We want to support participants to take practical steps around re-wilding in their local area and respond creatively to the collection and themes of the project. We will also document, preserve and digitise the collection, so it is better understood and can be enjoyed and used by more people in the future.