Editing University of Manchester (section)

===Collections===
====Manchester Museum====
[[File:Manchester Museum Entrance.jpg|thumb|upright|The entrance to the Manchester Museum]]
{{Main|Manchester Museum}}
The Manchester Museum holds nearly 4.25 million<ref name=MuseumCollection>{{cite web |url=http://www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/collection/ |title=Manchester Museum's ''Our collection'' page |access-date=26 February 2008 |archive-date=9 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130809084953/http://www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/collection/ |url-status=live }}</ref> items sourced from many parts of the world. The collections include butterflies and carvings from India, birds and bark-cloth from the Pacific, live frogs and ancient pottery from America, fossils and native art from Australia, mammals and ancient Egyptian craftsmanship from Africa, plants, coins and minerals from Europe, art from past civilisations of the [[Mediterranean]], and beetles, armour and [[archery]] from Asia. In November 2004, the museum acquired a cast of a fossilised ''[[Tyrannosaurus]] rex'' called "Stan".

The museum's first collections were assembled in 1821 by the Manchester Society of [[Natural History]], and subsequently expanded by the addition of the collections of Manchester Geological Society. Due to the society's financial difficulties and on the advice of evolutionary biologist [[Thomas Huxley]], [[Owens College]] accepted responsibility for the collections in 1867. The college commissioned [[Alfred Waterhouse]], architect of London's [[Natural History Museum, London|Natural History Museum]], to design a museum on a site in Oxford Road to house the collections for the benefit of students and the public. The Manchester Museum was opened to the public in 1888.<ref>[http://www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/history/ The History of The Manchester Museum, University of Manchester] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090627082857/http://www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/history/ |date=27 June 2009 }}. Retrieved 25 November 2007.</ref>

====Whitworth Art Gallery====
{{Main|Whitworth Art Gallery}}
[[File:Whitworth Gallery.JPG|thumb|The Whitworth Art Gallery]]
The Whitworth Art Gallery houses collections of internationally known British watercolours, textiles and wallpapers, modern and historic prints, drawings, paintings and sculpture. Its collection contains 31,000 items. A programme of temporary exhibitions runs throughout the year and the Mezzanine Court displays sculpture.

The gallery was founded by Robert Darbishire with a donation from Sir [[Joseph Whitworth]] in 1889, as ''The Whitworth Institute and Park''. In 1959, the gallery became part of the [[Victoria University of Manchester]].<ref name=history>{{cite web |url=http://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/history/ |title=A Short History of The Whitworth Art Gallery |access-date=10 March 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104125323/http://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/history/ |archive-date=4 November 2012 }}</ref> In October 1995, the Mezzanine Court in the centre of the building was opened. It was designed to display sculptures and won a [[Royal Institute of British Architects|RIBA]] regional award.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/ |title=The Whitworth |website=Whitworth Art Gallery |access-date=7 March 2020 |archive-date=30 December 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051230161609/http://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/ |url-status=live }}</ref>