Other Collections
Alongside the Art Collection, University Collections care for the following museum collections.
Furniture Collection
This is a representative collection of 1960s and 1970s furniture acquired for the University. This includes Bertoia chairs, McIntosh of Kirkcaldy sideboards, commissioned curtains and fabric from Bute Fabrics.
The furniture collection was acquired at the same time as a large proportion of the Art Collection was created. It reflects developments in design in this period when the University was first established and has synergies with work in the Art Collection by artists who were commissioned for the University and the abstract works which were collected in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.
Ceremonial Collection
This collection includes all objects used in graduation. It comprises University silver, ceremonial gowns and the University mace. New additions to the Ceremonial Collection in 2025 include newly designed ceremonial staffs by renowned jewellers Hamilton and Inches and a new mace stand by master furniture maker Daniel Lacey.
Where possible when new acquisitions are made to this Collection we ensure that they utilise Scottish makers whose practice speaks to the artwork contained within the Art Collections and reflects the heritage of the institution.
Science Collection
This is a Natural Science collection acquired for learning and teaching. This includes skeletons and geological objects. A key focus of the Collections is to ‘make knowledge visible’. Each year our exhibitions are inspired by a University research theme and we work across collections to examine research themes. In the 2025/6 academic year our theme is Art and Science and all exhibitions and outreach activities are focussed on this theme.
Works from the Science Collection are exhibited alongside works from the Art Collections. Currently we are exhibiting a new acquisition, a still life work, Le Bouc by artist Alison Watt alongside relevant skulls from the Science Collection.
Read our blog about working with the Science Collection.
Pathfoot Press
The Pathfoot Press is the University of Stirling’s centre for letterpress printing, teaching, and research, keeping alive the traditional skills and equipment necessary to set and print moveable metal type by hand.
The history of letterpress printing at Stirling began shortly after the inception of the University in 1967. Our Columbian Press was purchased for the University in 1973 with support from the National Fund for Acquisitions and the pressroom was utilised in the 1980s by the Stirling Bibliographical Society. The Society was a manifestation of the vibrant bibliographical and book historical research culture which has always been a part of life at Stirling. However, it fell into abeyance in the 2000s and it was only by foresight and good fortune that the contents of its press room survived to be brought back into use as the Pathfoot Press.
The Pathfoot Press was founded in 2016 as a centre for letterpress printing, teaching, and research at the University of Stirling. Our Columbian Press is part of University Collections and now is a working museum object embedded in research, learning and public engagement. The Pathfoot Press operates as a cross-departmental collaboration between University Collections and the Faculty of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.
The pressroom is managed by our printer in residence, Dr Dawn Hollis. Dawn is a historian and letterpress printer, who has been printing since 2010, having first trained in typesetting and letterpress printing at the Bibliography Room at the University of Oxford. She has been involved in the work of the Pathfoot Press since it was re-established and, after a career in academic research, moved into full-time letterpress printing in 2023 with her own private press, the Crail Press. The press is actively involved in University life. On an annual basis it produces a commemorative print celebrating the work of the University’s Charles Wallace Fellow, as well as producing hand-printed work on request for other departments and occasions. It is embedded in the curriculum, forming a part of the cross-disciplinary module ARTU9EC: Pen, Print and Press, and offers an internship scheme to interested students in the spring and summer, enabling them to learn the skills of letterpress and pursue their own projects in the pressroom.
If you have any questions about the press, please contact pathfootpress@stir.ac.uk.
