Research

The Royal Pump Rooms and the Growth of Leamington Spa
A new book on the history of the Royal Pump Rooms, and its key role in the development of Royal Leamington Spa as a fashionable health resort, has been published by Warwick District Council. The book tells the story of the Royal Pump Rooms and its crucial role in the development of Leamington from a small agricultural village to a major 19th century spa resort town. It ends with Warwick District Council’s £7 million, multiple award winning redevelopment of the building.

The book’s brief but informative text and many illustrations reveal some of the town’s most important places and colourful characters of the last 200 years.

The book costs £2.50 and is available from the Art Gallery & Museum or the Tourist Information Centre at the Royal Pump Rooms. The book was produced by Jeff Watkin, Heritage and Arts Manager for Warwick District Council.

Buried in the Footnotes
The Art Gallery & Museum is one of ten case studies in a research project into the representation of disabled people in museums run by the Research Centre for Museum and Galleries at the University of Leicester. The team of disabled and non-disabled researchers have been working with curators to identify museum objects attesting to the lives of disabled people and to examine the factors which contribute to the under/mis-representation of disabled people in museums.

Alison Plumridge, Senior Curator at the Art Gallery said:
'We are delighted to be working with the RCMG on such an important research area. We have a sizeable collection of works of art and museum objects by or depicting disabled people and the discussions at a recent colloquium have led to further improvements in the interpretation of our collections.'

New research into the treatments at The Royal Pump Rooms
A research project funded by MLA West Midlands has shed new light on the treatments carried out at the Royal Pump Rooms over the past two hundred years. Katherine Foxhall spent two months working at the Museum researching the collections and archives relating to the treatments at the Royal Pump Rooms held by the Museum, Leamington Library and Warwickshire County Record Office.

This research is being used to catalogue the photographs and medical equipment in the museum collection, answer questions from visitors and researchers, improve interpretation in the Museum inform educational materials and events and to update this website.