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The Read's Collection

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The Read's Collection

“All purpose knives: Conserving cutlery & medical instruments from the Read’s Collection”

 

Background

The Read’s Collection consists of over 800 objects. It documents an important period of medical instrument production in Ireland and shows the changes in medical standards through the 19th and early 20th century. This collection is unique not only because it relates to medical history here in Ireland, but because it also speaks to the history of commerce in Dublin and the legacy of Read's Cutlery as Dublin's oldest shop.  While predominantly medical instruments, the collection also includes other objects, such as a selection of Read’s famous cutlery, personal items and luxury gifts, along with the raw materials used in the production of the cutlery and medical instruments. 

This collection was donated to in 2024 by Clem Kenny, who owns the original home of Read’s Cutlery Shop at No. 4 Parliament Street. A great amount of work has been done to conserve the old shop, which is now open to the public as a café. This grant will allow the next step

 

The Project

This project focuses on the conservation needs of the Read’s collection. It will support a specialist metal conservator to do a Collections Care and Conservation Plan for the entire Read's collection to help us better preserve and manage this collection.

The scope of this project will also include conservation work on 10 specially selected metal based objects. These objects will represent both the medical and non-medical sides of the collection. Both phases of this project will be carried out during the summer and early fall of 2026.

 

Public Engagement

We will be sharing this project with the public during Heritage Week and Culture Night, when we will be inviting people into the building to see some of the Read’s Collection and to speak to the team working on the conservation. During Heritage Week there will also be talks hosted at the House of Read on Parliament Street. We will also be providing updates on the project through both our ezine and social media. Click here if you would like to sign up to the RCPI Heritage Centre ezine.

We are in the planning phase of creating a permanent public museum in our historic No. 6 on Kildare Street. Part of the exhibition plan is to share the story of Read's Cutlery as both a medical instrument provider and a cutlery shop.

 

Project Team

  • Eleanor Haworth, Object Conservator
  • Jess Milhausen, Collections Manager, RCPI
  • Chiará Morgan, Assistant Keeper of Collections, RCPI
 

This project is co-funded by the Heritage Council.